An unfortunate neck injury to Gorey second row Glen Kirwan forced the abandonment of his side's Senior Cup clash against Dundalk at Aer Lingus yesterday.

Dundalk were leading 12-3, 13 minutes after the break when Kirwan failed to rise following a ruck. The player lay prone on the ground for a considerable time while an ambulance was summoned to the back pitch at the ALSAA complex. A neck brace was applied and Kirwan was eventually removed to Beaumont Hospital for treatment.

However by that stage, with light already fading fast, referee Brian Cullen had called a halt to proceedings. Earlier Dundalk had recovered from a nervous opening period to lead 12-3 at the interval.

Gorey began well against the strong wind and with number eight Thomas Brown and centre John O'Gara leading by example, they deservedly opened the scoring thanks to a 20-metre penalty from out-half Martin Askins after 15 minutes.

It took Dundalk some 20 minutes before out-half Joe Gilles's wind-assisted tactical kicking began to pin Gorey back inside their own 22.

The pressure eventually told when Gilles's seering diagonal run following the scrum put him over in the corner for Dundalk's opening try. Just before the interval, the out-half struck again from another scrum in an ideal position in front of the posts. He added a conversion to extend his side's lead to 12-3.