Gallant Wegians display just falls short against UCD in Cup semi-final

UCD  21          

Galwegians  20 

 GALWEGIANS lost their chance to secure a place in the final of the All-Ireland Bateman Cup when they suffered an agonising defeat at the hands of high-riding Division 1a side UCD at Belfied on Saturday.

Played in dismal conditions, handling proved difficult for both sides and the game took a while to warm up. UCD opened the scoring with a penalty from James Thornton on 18 minutes, but this was soon cancelled out by Ross Shaughnessy who drew Wegians level on 23 minutes after being off target moments earlier.

The opening try came for the hosts just on the half-hour mark when College scrum-half Jamie Glynn broke free from a well-worked maul and dived over on the left, with Thornton converting for a 10-3 lead.

However Wegians began to improve and regained their confidence, gaining the upper hand for the remainder of the half. Shaughnessy added a second penalty on 32 minutes to reduce the margin to four points, and shortly afterwards UCD lock Brian Cawley was binned which put the hosts under the cosh.

The students defended well to hold their line under mounting pressure, until Wegians eventually made the extra man count in the last play of the half. It followed some excellent work and hands which sent winger Ronan Moore over in the corner. This put Wegians in the lead for the first time and Shaughnessy landed an excellent touchline conversion to give them a 13-10 cushion at the break.

Although playing against a slight breeze in the second-half, Wegians started brightly trying to open up the ball, but the wet conditions made handling extremely difficult. However the Blues had their chances but failed to take advantage any time they entered the UCD 22.

Shaughnessy had an opportunity to stretch their lead on 53 minutes but his effort fell short into the breeze. In contrast, the students were not so wasteful. The next score looked like being pivotal to the outcome, and so it proved. College regained the lead just before the hour mark when they worked their way up the right and some excellent play led to a try for winger Tom Fletcher.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.