Galwegians are caught at the post as winning run ended

Galwegians 22

Ballymena 23

A last-gasp penalty by substitute Tim Small saw Ballymena snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and, in the process, end Galwegians’ unbeaten start to the Ulster Bank Division 1b campaign at a rain-sodden Crowley Park on Saturday.

Played in dreadful conditions with incessant rain throughout, both teams clearly struggled to gain any sort of foothold early on, although both were making a fair fist of ball retention. The home side had the wind advantage in the first-half, and should have taken the lead after five minutes when awarded a penalty 30 metres out, but out-half Dave Clarke was wide of the posts.

The game remained scoreless in the first half-hour with chances few and far between, but the visiting pack began to assert themselves more and more as the game wore on, especially in the scrum where Wegians were missing injured props Ja Naughton, Jason East and hooker Ross Fitzgerald.

The deadlock was broken after 31 minutes when good continuity play took the visitors deep into Wegians territory, and the move was finished by centre Paddy James who crashed over near the left-hand corner. Out-half Ritchie McMaster landed what ultimately proved to be a crucial touchline conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Moments later Wegians prop Paul McCreanor was binned after the home scrum creaked, and McMaster added three points with his first penalty attempt to put the visitors 10-0 in front, and looking comfortable going into the half-time break.

However this Wegians team is made of stern stuff, and they showed their mettle when scoring two tries either side of the break to haul themselves right back into it. The opening try came from a penalty to the corner, and following clean line-out ball, prop Doran McHugh got on the end of a well-worked maul to dive over for his second try in successive games and give his side a lifeline.

If that was a shock to the visitors, they were left reeling one minute after the restart when Wegians full-back John Cleary latched onto his own clearance garryowen near halfway. And in a sublime piece of skill, he not only claimed the high ball, but also left his marker for dead to sear home and touch down near the right-hand corner, and suddenly the sides were level again.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.