Galwegians turned on the style to grab the full complement of points over an already doomed Terenure College at Crowley Park on Easter Saturday, but the win was not enough to secure a place in next season’s top eight competition.
Galwegians currently sit in ninth place, but even if they overcome Garryowen this weekend, they cannot make up the seven-point deficit with eighth placed UL Bohs. Both outfits have notched seven wins to date - the difference is the nine bonus points UL Bohs picked up this season compared with Galwegians’ paltry two.
However it did not stop the Glenina outfit cruising to a comfortable victory last Saturday when winger John Cleary bagged all four tries in their penultimate league game of the season and their last home outing.
Wegians were clearly on top from the start, but they had to wait until the 18th minute before they finally managed a breakthrough after lock Dave Nolan, who was a towering presence throughout, followed up a clean lineout steal with a turnover which finished with top-scorer Cleary touching down in the right corner after outhalf Ross Shaughnessy launched an inch-perfect cross kick.
Although fullback Rob O’Beirn was unlucky with the difficult conversion and a long-range penalty effort, the home side extended their lead soon after when they opted to kick for touch from a penalty. Nolan again was the recipient before Shaughnessy found Cleary with a sweet reverse pass and the Mervue flyer showed some deft footwork to score under the posts for his second try. O’Beirn added the extras to stretch the advantage to 12-0 at the break.
Wegians then made the game safe when awarded a penalty 10 metres out in the 45th minute. The quick-thinking Cleary tapped and went himself to ghost through the bemused home defence and secure his hat-trick.
It was all Wegians as they continued to make light of the stiff breeze against them in the second-half, and they secured the bonus point after hooker Conor Muldoon made an incisive break down the right, with Cleary finishing off.
Galwegians: R O'Beirn (C O'Beirne 65 ); C Brigl (B Draper 65 ), C Rodgers, B Murphy, J Cleary; R Shaughnessy, B Lee; Ja Naughten (J Lyne 46 ), C Muldoon, J Stephens; B McClearn (D Murphy 65 ), D Nolan; L Scahill, I Muldoon (cpt ), L Casserly (D Boyd 65 ).
