Men’s Firsts 48 – Sligo 8

Galwegians Senior Men maintained their perfect start to the season with a fifth straight bonus-point victory, running in eight tries in a dominant 48–8 win over Sligo at Crowley Park.

Playing into a strong first-half breeze, the visitors opened the scoring after just five minutes with a penalty from Euan Brown. That would prove to be their only score of the half, however, as the Blues soon took complete control.

In-form centre Rob Deacy struck first for Wegians, finishing impressively in the left corner to give his side a 5–3 lead. The home side’s pack began to overpower the visitors, providing a steady platform and plenty of attacking ball for their backs to exploit. Just before the end of the opening quarter, out-half Conor O’Shaughnessy broke the defensive line and offloaded beautifully to full-back Cian Brady, who raced in under the posts. O’Shaughnessy added the conversion to make it 12–3.

Galwegians continued to press, and shortly before half-time they extended their lead when Stevie Mannion’s skip pass found Matthew Victory on the right wing. The hooker showed both pace and power to finish in the corner, giving the hosts a commanding 17–3 lead at the break.

With the elements now in their favour, the Blues wasted little time in pushing further ahead. The bonus point was secured 10 minutes after the restart following an excellent multi-phase move involving both forwards and backs, finished off once again by Deacy diving over in the right corner for his second brace in consecutive weeks. To their credit, Sligo refused to fold, and almost immediately from the restart centre Aorelian Durkin pounced on a chip through the cover and hacked the ball on, winning the foot race to score, narrowing the gap to 22–8. But any hopes of a comeback were quickly quashed as more slick handling fed Brady who also grabbed his second of the day, finishing a flowing attack out wide to make it 27–8 before the hour mark.

Galwegians’ dominance only grew in the final quarter as despite the worsening conditions they showcased their attacking flair. Replacement winger Paul Sharkey produced a superb solo effort, chipping over his marker and winning the race to the ball in the left corner. Soon after, Oisín McKey showed a clean pair of heels to his opposite number to score another fine try in the opposite corner.

In the dying moments, hooker Victory powered over from close range following a five-metre scrum to complete the rout, with O’Shaughnessy tagging on the last three conversions to put added gloss on the scoreboard. It meant that Deacy, Brady, and Victory each finished with two tries apiece, underscoring a ruthless team performance.

With five wins from five and maximum bonus points, Galwegians boast a commanding points difference of +117 and remain top of Division 2B. They now face a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash against second-placed an fellow unbeaten side UL Bohemians in Limerick on November 15th, which promises to be a cracker.