Tribesmen sink the Sharks

THE Galway Tribesmen Rugby League club launched their 2018 campaign with a comfortable win over the Athy Sharks last Saturday. After the disappointment of the ROI final defeat last year, the Tribesmen were keen to get back to winning ways.

As is always the case on the opening weekend, both teams featured a number of debutants who were guided by their more experienced team mates and it didn’t take long for the Tribesmen to register their first score of 2018 when Matthew Towey crossed the line after four minutes.

The reliable boot of Conor Loughrey added two points fromthe conversion and the Tribesmen were six points to the good. Soon after, it was the turn of the Sharks to apply the pressure and repeat sets in the Tribesmen danger zone due to a goal line drop out resulted in a try from the Kildare men.

As the game settled down, the Tribesmen looked more composed with a structured attack and great defensive organisation, and it paid dividends with a succession of tries from captain Seosamh McDonagh, Cian Nugent and Josh Nugent.

With Loughrey slotting over two of the three conversions, the score was 22-4 to the Galway men. Loughrey then added his own try and converted it around the half hour mark and it looked like the Tribesmen were heading for the interval with a comfortable lead. However a late rally from the Sharks resulted in a couple of tries and one conversion to leave the half time scores at 28-16 to the Tribesmen.

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