Match Result
- Result: Galwegians Seconds 12 - Carrick on Shannon 31
- Venue: Crowley Park on Sun Feb 19th 2023
- Competition: Connacht J1C League
Match Report
A disappointing afternoon in Crowley park as the men’s seconds fell short at the line on Sunday losing to Carrick On-Shannon in the league semi-final. Their exit from the competition sees their chances at promotion squandered.
Having beaten Carrick convincingly two weeks previous the Galway men went into the fixture full of confidence, but Carrick were out for revenge.
The Leitrim men flew off the mark piling on the pressure from the get-go, they played in a similar fashion to the previous game this time with a little more intent. Strong one-off carries varied between their centre partnership and forwards led to their first score. Poor Galwegians’ defence saw Carrick breaking tackle after tackle to eventually crash over the whitewash.
Carrick doubled shortly after great footwork from fullback Shane McGuinness saw him round the Wegians’ defence before putting on the afterburners to pull away from any defenders to catapult Carrick into a 12-0 lead.
Carrick continued to add to their lead another try from McGuinness saw the home side fighting an uphill battle.
A try from Jack Beatty gave the boys in blue a glimmer of hope bringing the score to 19-5. With some confidence regained they started to play the style of rugby that they were capable of Connor O’Shaughnessy making a great break down the wing being stopped short of the line. A scrappy breakdown was followed by handbags, Brian McSweeney saw red for foul play meaning the home side were down to 14 men at half-time.
With is all up against them the first score of the half would be crucial for Wegians, but it wasn’t to be and Carrick continued their onslaught their pack powering the home side to extend their lead 24-5.
Ben Murphy pulled on back for our lads doing exactly what he’s been doing all season fantastic footwork saw him beat two defenders and backing his pace to pull one back, Shane converting to reduce the deficit to 12.
But that was to be Wegian’s final score of the evening with Carrick having all the answers, replying with a converted try of their own. Eoghan Birmingham received a yellow under the posts for back chat, Carrick to finish the game against 13 men.
With the seconds unable to reach the final their chances of promotion are lost which will also have a detrimental effect on the third’s chances of promotion this season.