Men’s Firsts 39 – Skerries 7

Galwegians secured the fourth and final playoff spot for promotion to Division 2A in the Energia AIL with a thoroughly comprehensive 7-try demolition of Skerries at Holmpatrick on Saturday.

The Blues came into this game knowing a win was a must to force their way into contention, and hope that the result in Sligo would also go their way. They immediately set about their business, and playing with the aid of a strong first half breeze, they wasted no time dominating up front. In the fourth minute they opened the scoring with a perfect line-out maul following a clean take by Oisin Halpin, which was finished off by hooker Ryan Smith for an unconverted try.

The hosts seemed powerless to deal with a determined Blues, and four minutes later it was deja vu when another Wegians 5m line-out maul was making its way towards the line being before being collapsed, leading to a penalty try and a yellow card for the home side. Wegians were utterly dominant all over the pitch, they were quickly going for the jugular and in the 15^th minute they had numbers out wide and look forward Rob Holian finished on the right for try number three, putting them 17-nil ahead.

There seemed no way back for the hosts at this point, however the Blues took their foot off the gas slightly and Skerries did have a small purple patch at the start of the second quarter. They gave themselves a lifeline with a well-taken try scored by winger David Goodman, which was converted by out-half Ronan Mulcahy. Wegians still had plenty opportunities to secure the bonus fourth try with the wind at their backs and their dominance still very apparent. However they wasted some clear-cut opportunities meaning at half-time it seemed finally balanced at 7-17, with the home side having the elements to come in the second half.

However the threat never materialised and in truth Skerries made very poor usage of the stiff breeze. Wegians continued to dominate both territory and possession and looked the likelier to score. That sai,d they continued to squander scoring opportunities, especially when Skerries were once again reduced to 14 men following great combination play between Jarrad Butler and Oisin Halpin which saw sub Paul O’Loghlin binned. Full-back Cian Brady then fumbled the ball when he looked to be clean through following a strong break, but it was a short reprieve for the hosts as the Blues secured the all-important bonus try on 57 minutes with a trademark Stevie Mannion score, bulldozing his way past three defenders.

It was now a three-score game and with Wegians completely on top, Skerries looked a beaten docket. Soon afterwards ex-Skerries winger Oisin McKey got on the end of a sweeping backline move to score a fifth try in the right corner, and there was no way back for the hosts at this point.  Wegians coach Brendan Guilfoyle will have been heartened by his side’s killer instinct as they kicked on to add to their tally. With the hosts having to force it in search of an elusive losing bonus point, the Blues backline were making hay and Brady scored an excellent try on 66 minutes with a beautiful dummy to go under the posts, giving Mannion a simple conversion. Brady then completed the rout when he grabbed his brace with another excellent score in the 71st minute, making the final score 39-7 to Wegians.

And so this completes a truly remarkable campaign, where Wegians lost their first seven straight games. Yet they managed a lazarus-like recovery to make the play-offs, courtesy of a favourable result in Sligo where the home side denied UL Bohemians to make their own Division 2B status safe. The Blues now go into a play-off against the second-from-bottom team in Division 2A Navan, and they make the trip to Balreask on Saturday April 19^th for a semi-final knock-out. On this evidence Galwegians will have nothing to fear.