Men’s Seconds 20 – Ballina 17

Galwegians Men’s Seconds won the Curley Cup Shield in a hard-fought battle where a last-gasp penalty from Sam Feely saw them edge out against their Connacht rivals Ballina at Westport on Sunday.

Played in damp miserable conditions, both sides gave it their best in a shot at some early silverware. Ballina drew first blood after 10 minutes when a break on the blindside inside their half set up an attack inside the Wegians 22, and the Mayomen a spread it wide to Michael Gillespie who crossed near the corner. This was superbly converted by Cian Anderson, and by the end of the first quarter he tagged on a penalty to give his side a 10-0 cushion.

Wegians soon settled into the game and they hauled themselves back into it with an unconverted try by Millar Yule on 23 minutes, following some brilliant improvisation with a between the legs pass from hooker Mark McHugh. With the ship now steadied, Wegians began to take command and they struck a crucial below right before half-time. This time it was McHugh himself who finished by crossing the whitewash for his side’s second try. Captain James Deacy converted to nudge the Blues 12-10 in front at the break.

With the game nicely poised, the second-half was very evenly matched. Ballina dominated the early exchanges as they went looking to regain the lead, only to meet some terrific goal-line defence from the Blues who eventually cleared to half way. A key moment came on the hour mark when the Blues struck a killer blow. In a well-worked move, a big shift from the forwards created the space and a skip pass from Deacy 5 metres from the line sent full-back Eoghan Fahey over in the corner.

The difficult conversion was wide, which left it 17-10 to the Blues entering the final quarter. The game was firmly in the melting pot and the pendulum duly swung back again. With Ballina camped on the Wegians line, the referee awarded a penalty try on 68 minutes, which levelled things at 17-17. The Blues were also reduced to 14 men with scrum-half Conor McHugh sent to the bin.

Wegians had to dig deep in the difficult conditions, and when they were back to 15 men for the final two minutes, they were given a late chance to snatch it when Ballina were penalised for not rolling away. It was a very difficult kick from the 10m line, and up stepped Feely with nerves of steel to make nonsense of the conditions and calmly slot it over the bar. The Blues won the restart and the pack duly closed out the final play to secure a hard-earned victory.