The Galway Tribesmen Rugby League Club, having launched their 2018 campaign with a comfortable win over the Athy Sharks, host their first match of the season on Sunday.
The Tribesmen will take on visitors Dublin City Exiles at Laurel Park pitches on Saturday (2pm ) with hopes of racking up a second successive win.
The last meeting between these two teams was in the ROI semi-final last year when the Tribesmen were eventual winners, so Saturday's fixture promises to be intriguing battle.
Last weekend they made a winning start with a 58-28 victory over the Athy Sharks.
Both teams featured a number of debutants, but it did not take long for the Tribesmen to register their first score of 2018 when Matthew Towey crossed after four minutes. Conor Loughrey added the conversion to put the Tribesmen ahead by six points.
Soon after the Sharks applied the pressure and repeat sets in the Tribesmen danger zone due to a goal line drop out resulted in a try for 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 Galway men took a 22-4 lead.
Loughrey then added his own try and converted it on the half hour mark and it looked as if the Tribesmen were heading to half time with a comfortable lead. However, a late rally from the Sharks in the last 10 minutes of the half closed the gap to 28-16.
The second half began exactly how the first half had, with Towey making a break and scoring underneath the posts, which was converted by Loughrey.
The visitors took control and came close to scoring, but for some strong defence, and the turning point came when Towey grabbed his third try.
As the half progressed the Galway men converted the pressure into points, with Loughrey and McDonagh scoring their second tries. A break down the right wing also resulted in a try for debutant Andrew McBreen.
Although the Sharks scored a further two converted tries in the closing stages, the last word went to the Tribesmen when Sean O’Gorman touched down with a minute of play left.
