Gorey Community School captain Shane Stokes lifts the McMullen Cup. Pic ; Matt Browne/Sportsfile.

Gorey Community School 19

Dundalk Grammer School  7

Gorey Community School is celebrating an impressive 12 points victory over Dundalk Grammar School in a competitive Bank of Ireland Leinster Rugby Schools McMullen Cup Final played at Donnybrook, Dublin, last Wednesday.

In drizzly and difficult conditions for a productive game, Daniel Molloy, stepped in for an interception near halfway to give Dundalk a lift early on.
They didn’t waste it when their out-half Jack Connolly pounced on a loose ball behind the line for the opening try, converted by Jack Hughes for 7-0 in the ninth minute.
Grammar were content to drive at the fringes in the conditions until scrum-half Hughes picked the moment to kick to the corner.

Despite the wind and rain, the Gorey lineout was winning clean possession, quite an achievement, with Sean Dunne and Shane Stokes dominating matters.

Gorey were using the aggression of flanker Cormac Wolohan-Walsh to carry and coming back to the short side to see out the half with the conditions in their backs for the second period.

It looked like Gorey would take advantage of the extra body when prop Jack Ryan got a head-of-steam up just to lose the ball from his grasp as he went to ground it at the end of the half.
In the second half, the Gorey forwards found reward when flanker Wolohan-Walsh ducked a tackle and escaped for a try which was converted by centre Michael Duke to level it up in the 39th minute.
Their tails were up and Mark Boyle’s unorthodox grubber put them deep inside the 22.
It looked like the try had to come as Gorey worked away at the whitewash against defiant Dundalk, the former giving away a penalty for a double movement and the latter falling foul of indiscipline too.
Gorey were camped inside the 22 for at least 10 minutes, the driving of the entire back row of Wolohan-Walsh, Boyle and Stokes making the inroads for wing replacement Gonzalo Sanchez-Toscano to make the left corner for 12-7 in the 53rd minute.
Wafer pulled a penalty to leave it as a once-score game,and it all came to a head when Gorey captain Stokes burst through two tackles on a 20-metre charge for the clinching try, converted by out-half Michael Duke in the 67th minute.

Scorers; Gorey Community School 19 (S Stokes, C Wolohan-Walsh, G Sanchez-Toscano try each; S Wafer, M Duke con each); Dundalk Grammar School 7 (J Connolly try; J Hughes con).

Teams;
Gorey: Mark Kehoe; Flynn Donnelly, Sean Wafer, Greg Bolger, Joseph Naughton; Michael Duke, Donough McGivern; Jack Ryan, Gonzalo Marquez, Dylan Sleator, Martin O’Loughlin, Sean Dunne, Cormac Wolohan-Walsh, Mark Boyle, Shane Stokes (capt).
Replacements: G Sanchez-Toscano for Kehoe 24 mins.
Dundalk: Eoin Brooks; David Murdock, Daniel Molloy, Max McGloin, Joshua Reynolds; Jack Connolly, Jack Hughes; Tobi Akinseloyian, Zac Coan, Peter Kerley, David Nwambu, Caoilin Traynor, Jonathan Johnson, T.A. Irwin, Andrew Cox (capt).
Replacements: Sean Walsh for Kerley 11 mins.
Referee: P. Reidy, Leinster Branch.