Mens Firsts 21 – Greystones 34

Galwegians were unlucky to come away empty-handed in a disappointing loss to league leaders Greystones at Dr. Hickey Park on sunny Saturday afternoon.

 The home side started on the attack and soon hit the front when they exposed some sloppy Wegians defence, flanker Connor McAleer touching down for his first. McAleer added another soon after to put the Wicklow men 10-0 up after only 11 minutes.

Wegians responded well from the restart and an excellent line kick from Jordan Thompson set up a line out 10 meters out. A textbook maul saw captain Kieran Downey score his sixth try of the season which Thompson converted to reduce the gap Wegians trailing 10-7.

The hosts upped the tempo once again, a break from Killian Marmion saw him cross the line for a try which he converted himself to restore their 10-point lead. Greystones continued to kick on and after only 26 minutes they already had the bonus point, centre Andrew Lynch this time exposed more brittle defence to cross the whitewash for their fourth try.

Wegians did have opportunities to reduce the gap but inaccuracy saw their chances squandered and Stones taking every opportunity to increase their lead. Just after the half-hour mark a perfectly executed line out maul saw flanker Michael Douglas score a fifth try putting them virtually out of sight with a 22-point lead going into the break.

The Blues were much the better side in the second half and on 50 minutes they gave themselves a lifeline when they managed to execute the five metre line out with a clever move which ended up with prop Jack Winters being helped over the line by his captain to reduce the gap. Thompson struck a perfect conversion and it was down to a 15-point margin.

The host responded once again and this time it was Eoin Marmion who finished off in the 65th minute to ensure a 20-point lead.

Wegians dominated the last quarter and their hard work was rewarded in the 79th minute good pressure by the forwards created the gap for Rob Deacy to score out wide an excellent conversion by Thompson gave them a hope with the restart still to come, some excellent play from Blues really took the game to Greystones. With the hosts down two men in the bin the Blues had a glorious opportunity but fell short of the line in the last play a misplaced pass saw the chance wasted and the lads came home empty-handed.

The lads have two weekends off to rest up before they face Malahide in an attempt to avoid the relegation battle.