Wesley take senior initiative; Boy's cup draws released

Wesley moved into a rock-solid position at the top of the Leinster Senior A schoolboy league as they proved too strong for Mount Temple and Kilkenny this week. Tom Samuel fired in twice against Temple last week while there were goals for Alan White, Shane Madeley, Andrew Malcolm, Andy Roberts and a first senior strike for Kirk Shimmins.

They followed up with a 9-2 success over the Cats yesterday afternoon. Conor Motyer and Andy Roberts whipped the Wesley into an early lead but a fine Eamon Walshe break-out goal had Kilkenny back in the hunt.

But the all-round quality of the Ballinteer school soon took its toll as Shane Madeley finished off a well-judged move with Roberts and Rob Burke combining to leave the Irish U-18 trialist with an easy finish. Eoin Finnegan cracked a decent chance just wide of the Wesley goal but when Neal Megarity popped up a rare double - the first via Dave McCrea's reverse cross and the second finishing off Matthew Lewis' pass - a 5-1 interval lead was procured.

Peter English finished off a corner move before setting up Lewis for 7-1. McCrea rebounded before Roberts netted the ninth. Walshe banged in his second in the latter stages while Conor Quinn did well to keep out an Evan Matthews drag in the last minute.

It means that, barring a defeat in the return match against St Andrew's, Wesley look perfectly set to claim the title with a 100pc record to date. Sutton Park look odds on to take third spot as they added to their 1-0 win over Kilkenny with a 5-0 victory over Mount Temple on Wednesday afternoon in the North Dublin derby.

In Senior B, meanwhile, High School have been making waves as they continued their great start to the season with a hard-fought 3-0 win over St Mark's in Tallaght last week. Shane O'Donoghue bagged a double in what was very much a Glenanne-inspired affair with both coaches and captains - Paul Fitzpatrick and Gareth Carragher for High School; Jonathan Kane and Rhys Coleman for St Mark's, respectively - hailing from the Tallaght club.

It added to earlier wins over King's Hospital (4-0) and Wesley's B side (2-0) to make it a good pre-Christmas run for the Rathgar-school. They will be among one of the hopefuls in the newly formed Senior Trophy.

In the draw made on Wednesday night, they received a bye to the second round of the competition and will play the winners of Mount Temple and King's Hos. Sutton Park are another side with lofty ambitions in this competition and will travel to play Sandford in the first round.

Wesley and St Andrew's, as last year's finalists, have been placed in the semi-finals of the Senior Cup proper and will face the finalists from this Trophy event. The two cup finalists will then go on to play in the John Waring tournament, set to be played in late March.

Elsewhere, Wesley's minor side (pictured, right)) completed the first half of the season with an unbeaten record with an impressive 5-1 win over King's Hospital while St Andrew's have all but wrapped up the U-13 A league after King's Hospital and Wesley tied 1-1.

Senior Trophy
Round One: Kilkenny vs Newpark; Mount Temple vs King's Hospital;
Round Two: John Scottus vs Kilkenny/Newpark; St Columba's College vs Dundalk; Mount Temple/King's Hospital vs High School; Sandford Park vs Sutton Park

Junior Cup:
Round One: Sandford Park vs Sutton Park; St Andrew's vs Kilkenny; High School vs Wesley College; Mount Temple vs King's Hospital; St Columba's vs Newpark
Round Two: St Killians vs Sandford/Sutton; Dundalk vs St Andrew's/Kilkenny; High School/Wesley vs John Scottus

Minor Cup:
Round One: St Killians vs King's Hospital; High School vs Dundalk; St Columba's vs St Andrew's
Round Two: Kilkenny vs St Killians/King's Hospital; Mount Temple vs Newpark; High School/Dundalk vs Wesley; St Columba's/St Andrew's vs Sutton Park

U-13 Cup:
Round One: Kilkenny vs Headfort; St Andrew's vs John Scottus; Mount Temple vs Dundalk; High School vs King's Hospital; Sutton Park vs St Columba's
Round Two: St Killians vs Kilkenny/Headfort; Wesley vs St Andrew's/John Scottus; Mount Temple/Dundalk vs Newpark; High School/King's Hospital vs Sutton Park/St Columba's

Recent schoolboy league results:
Senior A: Wesley 5 Mount Temple 1; Wesley 9 Kilkenny 2; Sutton Park 5 Mount Temple 0
Senior B: St Mark’s 1 John Scottus 1; St Mark’s 0 High School 3; St Mark’s 2 Dundalk GS 5; Wesley B 3 John Scottus 1
Junior A: St Andrew’s 4 Sutton Park 0; Wesley 2 Kilkenny 2
Junior B: Mount Temple 3 St Andrews B 1
Minor A: St Columba’s 2 Mount Temple 3; Wesley 5 King's Hospital 1
Minor B: Mount Temple B 2 High School 1
U-13 A: Wesley 1 King’s Hospital 1
U-13 B: Mt Temple 3 St Andrews B 0; Mount Temple 1 High School 1
U-13 C: Taney 1 St Andrews 2; Taney 6 RJS 0; Taney 6 Wesley 1