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Galwegians run in seven tries in top class display E-mail
Written by Fergus Lynch   
Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Galwegians produced their best performance of the season whenthey put seven tries past Dolphin at Crowley Park on Saturday to climb to ninth place in the AIB League Division One.
Galwegians 45 Dolphin 15

Galwegians produced their best performance of the season whenthey put seven tries past Dolphin at Crowley Park on Saturday to climb to ninth place in the AIB League Division One.

A brace from Conor McPhillips as well as 20 points from Nick Wakley including two tries, helped Galwegians to their biggest win of the season so far.

Somehow, the nine try affair remained scoreless until the 15th minute, when Galwegians were awarded a scrum on halfway following a crooked lineout from Dolphin. From the resulting scrum Luke Stringer passed to Anthony Barrett in midfield, who broke the Dolphin line before off loading to Conor McPhillips, scoring the games first try in the left corner. Nick Wakley converted his first of five conversions on the day to put the home side into a seven point lead.

Five minutes later outhalf Peter Durcan kicked through the Dolphin line towards the left wing where Ed Mills, the Dolphin fullback failed the clear the ball before Wakely took possession and scored in the corner.

Matt Lacey was up next on 25 minutes, as he ran a try in under the posts, from the left wing following a pass from Wakely. If Dolphin thought things couldn't get worse, they were mistaken when on 31 minutes their tighthead John O'Sullivan was yellow carded for hands in the ruck.

Then on the stroke of half time a break in midfield by Galwegians No.8 Brendan O'Connor had the Dolphin defence in further trouble before he offloaded in contact to Wakley to run in under the posts. By then Dolphin must have realised that despite having the wind in the second half it would be an uphill battle to overturn the 28-0 defecit.

Ten minutes into the second half it became apparent that Dolphin were not interested in chasing the game when they were awarded a penalty and chose to kick for goal. Keeshan put a small dent in the Galwegians lead, reducing it to 28-3 and perhaps sensing Dolphin's disinterest, Galwegians scored again five minutes later.

McPhillips ran between two Dolphin players on their ten metre line before offloading to second row Liam Scahill, who was more than willing to test the Dolphin players in contact. From the resulting ruck McPhillips, who had left his wing to add an option in midfield, spotted an overlap to his left to put tighthead Denis O'Brien over in the far left corner.

It wasn't until the 63rd minute when Dolphin scored their first try of the match through backrow George Finn. As if to sum up their luck on the day, Keesham's conversion came back off an upright. The Corkmen scored again on 71 minutes after an overlap in the left corner from replacement David Griffin, to reduce the deficit to 33-10. Keesham's conversion found the target this time but thereafter it was all Galwegians.

On 79 minutes Galwegians went further ahead when from a ruck on their own ten metre line, stand in scrum half Conor McPhillips chose to run the ball down the narrow gap on the blindside. After shaking off one tackle, McPhillips had an easy run to the Dolphin line to make the score 38-15 going into stoppage time.

The final nail in Dolphin's coffin was scored by Anthony Barrett in the far left corner to seal a memorable Galwegians victory at Crowley Park. With the win Galwegians are up to ninth in the AIB League table, but with only four points separating themselves and fourth placed Shannon, they know that a win against Clontarf on January 20th could once again see them soar up the table.

Galwegians coach, Paul Young, was very pleased with how his side dealt with a side who were five places ahead of Galwegians going into this match.

"I'm very pleased with how the guys performed especially in the first half with the wind, apart from the first ten minutes when the team lacked discipline. We were very clinical and scored some great tries", said the former Wales international.

"What we really need now is get some consistency going and with the way the fixtures are scheduled with four of our next five games at home, we've a great opportunity to build on that when we play Clontarf here in two weeks time," he added.

Scorers:

Galwegians:

Try: McPhillips (2), N Wakley (2), Lacey, O'Brien, Barrett.

Con: N Wakley (5)

Dolphin:

Try: Harty, Griffin

Con: Keeshan

Pen: Keeshan

Galwegians: K Hickman; J Cleary, N Wakley, A Barrett, C McPhillips; P Durcan, L Stringer; D O'Connell, C Muldoon, D O'Brien; L Scahill, A Browne; A Conboy (C), M Lacey, B O'Connor.

Replacements: D Boyd for Browne, 50mins; L Casserly for O'Connor, 62mins; J Naughton for Muldoon, 65mins; P O'Toole for Durcan, 65mins; J Wakley for Stringer, 65mins.

Dolphin: E Mills; D O'Connell, P Owens, J O'Mahoney, K Lynch; B Keeshan, G O'Keeffe; F Gately, K Murray, J O'Sullivan; R McGrath (C), D Harty; G Finn, D Murphy, A Daly.

Replacements: R McKinnie for Murray, 55 mins; D Pomeroy for McGrath, 55mins; S Heffernan for Gately, 62mins; J Purcell for O'Mahoney, 62mins; D Griffin for Owens, 62mins.

Referee: S McDowell (Ulster).


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