Galwegians have advanced to their third successive Heineken Junior Cup final after a hard-fought four-try victory over Ballinasloe at Moher Road.
The Galway outfit will now play Westport in the final on March 30 in the Galway Sportsground.
In difficult conditions the hosts used their pack to grind out field position and from a rolling maul they opened the scoring when John Hayes claimed the uncoverted touchdown. Wegians, e struggling to cope with the Ballinsloe pack, conceded a host of penalties before the referee sent Wegian centre Shane Madden to the sinbin at half time.
However the visitors upped upped the tempo and the second rolling maul try of the match saw No 8 Jack Dineen score three minutes into the second-half to level the contest. However, still under pressure, Wegians conceded a second try when Ballinasloe winger Cian Loughrey took advantage of a defensive mix-up to score and Ruairi Doolan converted.
The Galway city outfit, after making several changes, started to take control and, from a superb Conor Lowndes chip, wing Eoin O'Mahoney fielded to score in the corner, with Lowndes striking the perfect conversion.
With the sides level and six minutes remaining, Wegians grabbed the initiative. O’Mahoney scored his second try, and Dineen showed impressive pace to bag his brace with the last play of the game.
