Derby win sees Sky Blues remaining in pole position
THE Galwegians march continues after their vitally important victory over Connacht rivals Buccaneers under lights at Crowley Park on Friday night. The top four in Division 1b of the Ulster Bank League all won last weekend making for a real log jam at the top of the table.
For the Sky Blues, the improvement in recent weeks has been a huge boost, Friday’s 12-6 win over Buccaneers was their second on the bounce and while it was far from an error free top notch display, in tough conditions, they dominated possession and territory and showed good patience after going 50 minutes without a score. The two tries then came quickly and they saw it out comfortably.
Matt Brown’s side are top of the pile on 47 points leading by one point from Garryowen with Ballymena and Dublin University occupying third on 44 points. There are five rounds remaining and they have two games at the end of Feburary starting on the 20th away to Ballymena and then at home to Corinthians in the Galway derby on the following Friday.
The challenge for Corinthians is simply survival at this stage and a losing bonus point in a loss away to Shannon at the weekend at least helped them get off the bottom of the table. They face two Connacht derbies at the end of this month, starting at home to Buccaneers and then away to Galwegians. Their season might well be defined by the result in those two games.
Junior Cup
On a day of tension, gripping rugby and upsets, the reigning champions Galwegians were knocked out while the students of NUIG caused a major upset in the last 16 round of the Heineken Connacht Junior Cup.
Momentum paid off for both NUIG and Ballinrobe on Sunday. Each won their preliminary round games seven days previously and they each took that good away form into Sunday.
In Loughrea, NUIG pulled off a shock result in ousting the 2011 finalists with a superb second half display where they broke the deadlock with two converted tries in a 14-0 win that puts them into the last eight.
Meanwhile in Creggs, the home side’s brilliant run of form came to an end as Ballinrobe followed on from their superb win over Tuam last week with another battling display on their travels to win 14-9. Peter Cosgrove’s first half try proved the difference in a captivating cup tie.
For Galwegians, the momentum of last year was gone on Sunday and they fell to strong second half performance from home side Ballina who won 27-10, scoring three tries without reply during an impressive second half.
A little further south but in the same county, rivals Castlebar and Ballyhaunis played out a hard hitting encounter where the home side defended superbly in a 15-3 win.
The clash of contenders Buccaneers and Monivea was postponed due to a frozen pitch in Athlone while Connemara underlined their title credentials with a big second half display in Ballinasloe, winning 18-7 having trailed at half time. Peter O’Toole and Jack Vaughan got the tries.
Last year’s beaten finalists Westport are also through to the quarter finals after a scrappy away victory at OLBC, while Corinthians are safely into the last eight thanks to a big win in Headford against Corrib.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.