Men’s Firsts 19 – UL Bohs 14

Galwegians continued their fine form with their 13th straight victory as they welcomed UL Bohemians (Bohs) to Crowley Park on Saturday in a top-of-the-table clash.

The Blues made a blistering start, crossing for two tries in the opening ten minutes. The first came in the fifth minute following a strong scrum which earned a penalty advantage. Full back Tiarnan Neville kicked to the corner and although his effort fell just short, a knock-on by Bohs winger Greg Fitzgerald handed Galwegians an attacking scrum.

From the resulting set piece, number eight Eanna McCarthy fed inside centre Cian Brady, who ran a superb straight line to slice through the Bohs cover and touch down under the posts. Neville added the straightforward conversion to make it 7–0.

Four minutes later Galwegians doubled their lead, once again ruthlessly punishing an error from the visitors. Bohs out-half Cian Casey carried the ball back inside his own 22 before kicking directly into touch, handing the initiative straight back to the home side. From the ensuing line-out, a well-worked move saw Brady link with Neville before feeding Conor O’Shaughnessy, who looped around to cut through the defensive line and score near the posts. Neville converted to extend the lead to 14–0.

UL Bohemians tried hard to gain a foothold in the contest, but any incursion into Galwegians territory was met by stern defence. The home side stretched their advantage further on the half-hour mark when they showed real class in the back line. From a ruck on the ten-metre line, the ball was moved slickly through six pairs of hands down the right wing before Rob Deacy cut back inside to find Sherlock, who showed pace to beat the cover and score near the corner. The try went unconverted, leaving Galwegians 19–0 ahead.

Bohs continued to battle but missed opportunities, including crooked line-outs and failures to find touch, proved costly. The score remained 19–0 at the interval.

The visitors came flying out of the blocks in the second half and threw down the gauntlet, sending everything at the home side. With penalties beginning to go their way, they were knocking firmly on the door. However, they ran into a wall of sky-blue defence that refused to flinch, securing some vital turnovers in the process. Wegians were dealt a blow when they lost the services of Connacht Academy players Conor O’Shaughnessy and Dave Walsh to ankle injuries, and matters weren’t helped by the sin-binning of another Academy star Albert Lindner for a deliberate knock-on early in the third quarter.

The Blues struggled to get out of their own half and the pressure finally told in the 63rd minute when the visitors struck following a slick backline move that sent full-back Oisin Fagan over in the right corner. The try was converted by Casey to narrow the gap.

Bohs were now dominating at scrum time and continued to win penalties, keeping the pressure firmly on. Pauraic Galvin and Liam Neilan were causing serious damage, and with the game entering its closing stages, sustained pressure was finished off by captain Darragh O’Gorman, who crossed on the left wing. An excellent conversion from Casey made it 19–14.

In the closing minutes,Wegians finally managed to gain some territory in the Bohs half, and as they went in search of a bonus try, a promising opportunity to launch an attack was undone by ill-discipline, conceding a penalty on the opposition 22. Instead, they had to contend themselves with keeping Bohs pinned deep in their half, running down the clock with more excellent defence which was the winning of the game.

So although no bonus point this time, it was another vital win for the Blues which sees them edge ever closer to mathematically securing the automatic promotion spot to Division 2A.