U17s 20 – Sligo 5

The U17s played Sligo in Strandhill in the U 17 League. We came away winners 20:5 but it was a typically hard fought battle under the shadow of Knocknarea Mountain and indeed queen Maeve herself seemed to be on duty!

Sligo are a well drilled and physically athletic and hardened outfit. We put Sligo under sustained pressure early and were unlucky not to score at least once but Darragh Kennedy at 13 scored a fine try, running a superb line to open our account on 10 minutes. Full back Jack Beatty converted. Sligo tackled our big ball carriers really well but we moved the ball really well in heavy traffic.

The rest of this half was fairly evenly matched with both sides putting the other under good pressure. Any time Sligo threatened, we defended our 22 really well. We did have most of the possession and on 30 minutes Luke Kelly scored a great try running a superb line after sustained pressure to leave the scoreline 12:0 at half time.

The second half continued in much the same vein as the first, we defended really well and Luke and Darragh at 9 and 10 did use the wind advantage cleverly kicking into the Sligo 22 at every opportunity to keep the opposition playing rugby in their half.

It took 20 minutes to break the Sligo defense and Darragh Kennedy got in the corner for his second try after some great passing and hard fought rucking by Galwegians. Sligo were not going away and scored a well worked try after some poor tackling by Galwegians on 24 minutes to bring the score to 17:5. We continued to dominate possession however and Jack Beatty scored a fine penalty to put the game beyond doubt after 30 minutes of the second half.

We remain unbeaten and hold the top spot in the league with 5 wins from 5 matches so far. Next up in the League is our old rivals Ballinasloe in Ballinasloe on 18th November. We do play a touring side next weekend in Glenina when we host London Oratory at 2.30 pm.

Once again, we would like to thank Sligo for being such good hosts and worthy opposition and our parents who travelled by car in such good numbers.

We would like to wish a speedy recovery to Konah Greefe, who joined the squad late last season. Konah gave everyone a it of a shock having been taken to hospital Saturday night but thankfully he is making a full recovery. We look forward to seeing him back on the pitch soon.