Galwegians stun rivals Buccaneers

Galwegians stunned hosts and provincial rivals Buccaneers on Saturday when recovering from a 22-0 deficit to run out 29-25 winners in Division 1b of the AIL

A Colin Conroy try in the very last play of the game gave the Blues their third bonus point victory in four outings, which keeps them top of UBL Division 1B and sets up a mouth-watering clash with fellow promoted side Ballymena – who are also four for four – when the league resumes in three weeks’ time.

Buccs opened the scoring in the second minute with a try from Luke Satchwell, which was converted by Alan Gaughan, and the home side stretched their lead 12 minutes later with Eoghan O’Reilly scoring a try, again converted by Gaughan.

Galwegians looked dead and buried when Billy Henshaw crossed for a third Buccs try, and while Gaughan missed the conversion, he added a penalty to leave the home side 22-0 ahead as half-time approached.

Galwegians were by now down to 14 man following the sin-binning of Brian Murphy, while they had also lost captain and prop Ja Naughton and out-half Dave Clarke to injury, but they were thrown a lifeline when Brian McClearn got in for an unconverted try just before half-time.

Aidan Moynihan kicked a penalty to further reduce arrears in the 54^th minute, and when Buccs talismanic back-row Kolo Kiripati was binned just before the hour mark, this gave ’Wegians added impetus.

Doran McHugh scored a try which was converted by Conor Lowndes, but then the prop picked up his second yellow of the game, followed by a red, which looked to have stopped the ’Wegians comeback.

However they rallied again and Lowndes got in for his side’s third try, which he also converted, to tie up the scores at 22 points apiece with four minutes remaining.

There was still more drama to come, however, as Gaughan kicked an injury-time penalty to nudge the hosts back in front, but Galwegians stunned their hosts when Conroy got in for a try with the last move of the match to secure the win and bonus point, and Lowndes landed the conversion for good measure.

It was not such a good weekend for Corinthians, however, who slipped to their third defeat in four games when losing 30-7 at home to Shannon.

The visitors took the lead with two early penalties, but Corinthians got back into the game when Conor Murphy got in for a try, and his successful conversion saw the home side edge ahead.

That was as good as it got for Corinthians, however, as John Shine scored a try for Shannon which was converted by Tadhg Bennett for a 13-7 lead. They stretched that margin in the 52^nd minute with an unconverted try form Lee Nichols, sand they completed the win with two tires from Stephen Fitzgerald, one of which was converted, to secure the bonus point.