Men’s Firsts 43 – UL Bohs 21

Galwegians Senior Men put in an outstanding performance to convincingly beat promotion rival contenders UL Bohemians 43-21 in a seven-try demolition job at the UL 4G pitch on Saturday. This was a top of the table clash between two sides with five wins apiece, and something had to give. The writing was on the wall for the hosts early doors when they found themselves 19-0 behind after only 13 minutes.

A lightning start by the Blues saw them immediately go on the offensive. Within the first 10 minutes they scored two tries off line-out mauls, hooker Matthew Victory claiming the first and scrum-half Andrew Sherlock cleverly engineering space on the blind side for the second, with Stevie Mannion adding one conversion. Then in the 13th minute a quick tap and go penalty by Sherlock inside the 22 caused more damage, and a few phases later lock forward David Walsh burrowed over for the third try, with Mannion again splitting the posts for a 19-0 lead.

Inevitably Bohs would have a spell of dominance and they owned possession and territory in the second quarter for large parts. A concerted spell of pressure on the Wegians line for almost 10 minutes saw them pepper the line, but the Blues defence was simply magnificent as they held out. On the half hour mark sub forward Eanna McCarthy was sin binned for repeated offences and when the hosts spun the ball wide, sub scrum half Cian Casey finally crossed to open his side's account.
Oisin Fagan landed a good conversion and the hosts were back in the game at 19-7. However the Blues went back on the attack and had two great chances to secure the bonus point before half time, only to waste the opportunity.

Bohs were reduced to 14 men on the stroke of halftime when back row Shane Buckley went into the bin, and it didn't take Wegians long to nab the bonus point. Three minutes after the restart, a superb break through the middle by the in-form centre Rob Deacy saw him take play close to the line, and following quick ball spun out wide, out-half Tiarnan Neville had the luxury of ignoring an overlap to dive over near the right corner for the crucial fourth try. Mannion atoned for missing a simple penalty moments earlier by nailing the difficult conversion, and the Blues had restored their 19-point lead. In  fairness the hosts refused to give in, and five minutes later it was scrum half Casey again who sold a dummy to dive over near the posts for his second converted try which brought the gap back to 12 points.

The game was still in the balance at this juncture, however Wegians upped it a couple of gears and produced a spell of mesmerising rugby which simply blew their opponents away. Just before the hour mark, some deft handling by the forwards near the left touchline fed David Walsh, and the outstanding young lock hacked the ball 50 meters downfield, outpacing the covering defence to win the race to the ball and ground it for a sensational solo try. This knocked the stuffing out of the hosts, and straight from the restart a defensive fumble was punished by the grateful Oisin McKey who gathered and scythed through the bemused defence to score try number six, with Mannion converting to put the Blues out of sight.

It was game up for Bohs at this point and Deacy soon scored his fifth try in three games when finishing an excellent passage of play involving several players before grounding the ball in the corner. Bohemians kept going to the end and while they did get a late consolation try through number eight Liam Neilan, Wegians were determined not to concede a late bonus point. The referee blew time to wild celebrations by the visiting supporters. This magnificent performance truly was a statement of intent by Wegians who are now six points clear of those at the top of the table, and with one third of the games gone, they look seriously strong contenders for the automatic promotion spot to Division 2A. It's certainly all in their hands now.