Galwegians battle through the elements to extend lead

Galwegians 5

Galwegians won their ninth successive Ulster Bank League game with a hard-fought win away to Seapoint in Dublin on Saturday, putting further daylight between themselves and the chasing pack at the top of Division 2a.

While many fixtures fell victim to the dreadful weekend weather, the south county Dublin side’s ground at Kilbogget Park stood up to the heavy rain and was passed playable on Saturday morning. However the incessant driving rain and high winds continued to sweep down from the Dublin mountains in unrelenting fashion all afternoon.

The strong wind was a cross-breeze which did not particularly favour either side in the first-half. Scoring opportunities were understandably limited, but the stronger ’Wegians pack began to assert themselves as the game progressed.

With half-time approaching, the Blues forced a series of 5-metre scrums, and a powerful shunt towards the line by his pack afforded scrum-half Barry Lee the chance to dive over and ground the ball for what proved the decisive score. While full-back Darragh Leader had no chance with the conversion into the howling gale, ’Wegians would have been quite happy to take a five-point lead into the break, and it was a lead they maintained until the end.

Weekend defeats to their nearest challengers Queens University and City of Derry meant that the Blues stretched their lead at the top of the table to eight points with just five games remaining. Next up is a home League fixture against another struggling Leinster club Naas on Saturday week, February 15.