Galwegians’ faint hopes of promotion to division 1 were dealt a fatal blow when they suffered their first home league defeat of the season to an inspired Seapoint team on Saturday.
Unbeaten since October, Wegians came into this game needing a bonus point victory to keep pressure on the leaders, but it was the visitors who showed the greater hunger and desire, winning by 26 - 22.
Seapoint took an early lead with a Kevin Moes’ opening try, which outhalf Peter Leydon converted, while Wegians’ fullback Tadhg Leader and outhalf Dave Clarke were both off target with penalty efforts.
Leydon extended the lead with a drop goal midway through the half, which sparked Wegians into action. Concerted pressure in the visitors 22 and a penalty kick to the corner was rewarded when they mauled their way over from the lineout, with Ivan Muldoon claiming the touchdown and Clarke adding the extras.
Five minutes later the Blues hit the front for the first time when turnover ball engineered by Brian McClearn gave scrumhalf Barry Lee the chance to break on the blind, and captain Colin Conroy took a scoring pass to dive over in the corner for a second try and a 12-10 half-time lead.
At this stage a bonus-point win looked possible, but the visitors took the game to Wegians with Leydon landing two more penalties to give them a 16-12 lead.
Although McClearn was yellow carded for persistent infringing, the home side bagged try number three when centre John Cleary broke two tackles to score, and Clarke’s conversion gave them a three-point cushion.
Seapoint, however, hit right back with another Leydon penalty. The Blues went in search of the vital fourth try, but opted to kick a penalty 10 metres in front of the posts for the lead. However from the restart Seapoint’s excellent display of continuity play was rewardedwhen, from an overlap, ccentre Gary Foley dived over on the left for the winning try, which Leydon converted.
Galwegians: T Leader, C Conroy, J Cleary, G O’Brien, P Finn, D Clarke, V Lee, J Naughton, C Muldoon, J East, A Ryan, B McClearn, J Gardiner, I Muldoon, E Rooney. Replacements, R Fitzgerald, D McHugh, E Earle,C O’Rourke, R Moore.
