Galwegians made it two wins from two when they backed up their opening win away to Buccaneers last weekend by seeing off city rivals Corinthians at Crowley Park by 12-7 on Saturday.
While the final margin was close, it was a deserved and convincing win by the Blues who were the better team on the day.
The Blues, with the aid of a wind advantage, enjoyed dominance for the majority of the opening 40 minutes. Yet for all their possession, territory and forward dominance, they rarely threatened the visitor's line, bar one five metre attacking lineout which came to nought.
Corinthians defended comfortably in what was their first competitive outing this season, having forfeited their game against Sligo the previous week.
The Blues did have a chance to take the lead on the half-hour when full-back Darragh Kennedy tried his luck from 30 metres out with a penalty, but his effort sailed just wide. And just before half-time Kennedy was sin-binned which gave the visitors a chance to land a sucker-punch, but their attacking line-out inside Wegians’ 22 was thwarted to leave it scoreless at the break.
Corinthians, with the elements now behind them for the second half and a temporary extra man must have fancied their chances. However, despite gaining a grip in the set-piece where they had earlier struggled, they were unable to make any inroads.
The decisive moment came in the 48th minute, when the influential Kennedy, after his return from the bin, fielded a speculative kick ahead and ran it back from deep, linking with Karl Waterman, who came in off his right wing, to setup the scoring opportunity for left-wing MJ Duffy, who dived over for the opening try, his first of what will no doubt be many at senior level.
It was no more than they deserved, but Kennedy’s conversion was near impossible into the cross-wind, leaving it 5-0 to the hosts.
Corinthians were unable to muster any response, and with both coaches ringing the changes, the Blues regained their ascendancy in the set-piece, and continued to dominate.
With the penalty count beginning to mount in their favour, the Blues kicked to the corner, and eventually, after a line-out maul and individual drives to the line, substitute lock Niall Murphy pounced with a stretched arm to score. Kennedy made no mistake with this conversion for a 12-0 lead.
There was a late consolation score for Corinthians when Wegians replacement scrumhalf Eamon Dowling was sin-binned, and Corinthians scrumhalf Peter Rainsford took advantage to chip over the cover and seize on a defensive error to touch down under the posts. His drop-goal conversion proved the last act of the game.
Galwegians now face another unbeaten side Sligo on Saturday September 3, a game which will decide the destination of this year’s Senior League title.
GALWEGIANS: Darragh Kennedy; Karl Waterman, Conor O’Shaughnessy, Rob Deacy, MJ Duffy; Patrick Nash, Andrew Sherlock; Diego Vergara, Christy Reilly, Mick McColgan; Eoin Tarmey, Gary Duffy; Ben McGuinness, Jack Winters, Kieran Downey (captain ). Replacements:- Nikki Pfeiffer, Dylan Keane, Aaron McCloskey, Niall Murphy, Paul Hackett, Eamon Dowling, Allen Lagaiaa, Matt Dever.
Referee:- Shane Tuohy (Connacht ).
