O’Donohoe the hero as Connacht secure late draw with Italian men

Date Published: 02-May-2013

Treviso 23

Connacht 23

ANOTHER positive result for a Connacht team finishing the season on a high. For the third time in four away games, Connacht came away with a result, this time a draw thanks to a gutsy late surge from the pack and sniping try from replacement scrum half Paul O’Donohoe.

That score and Dan Parks’ conversion with the last kick sealed the two points at a venue where the home side hadn’t lost for five games. Connacht teams are becoming troublesome on their travels, wins in Cardiff, Edinburgh and twice in Parma along with this draw in Treviso underline as much.

If they can finish with a win over Glasgow on Friday night, (that’s a big if as the Scottish side are chasing a home play off semi final), they’ll have broken their record for wins in a season in this competition and they’ll more than likely have equalled a highest finish of eighth. Not bad at all.

For Eric Elwood, it must be a good feeling right now. His tenure is coming to a close and he can rightfully point to progress. He hasn’t hidden away from the negatives it should be said. He is well aware of the problems overcoming Irish provinces, keeping hold of young talent and delivering in some winnable home games.

This season alone, defeats at home to Edinburgh (by one point), Cardiff (by four points) and Munster (by four pints) will rankle long into the summer. In fact, you can’t find one close game that went the other way unjustifiably in terms of home form with the possible exception of a patchy performance against Zebre.

It all leaves a trail of data that Pat Lamb should find easily to extract positives from in terms of opportunities for further progress. This young side are getting on a roll on their travels and that showed in the closing stages of this contest.

The belief was there even when they were bogged down in their own 22 with a scrum with less than four minutes on the clock. They kept plugging away, kept believing, driven on by the likes of John Muldoon, Andrew Browne and Mick Kearney at that stage.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.