Greystones on top
Lewis’ side win in Galway and are unbeaten after three
GALWEGIANS GREYSTONES 28 41
ONE of the certainties of weather in the west of Ireland is that on a Saturday afternoon in October the rain will fall horizontally and the wind will blow strong and the weather gods did not dissapoint for Greystones visit to the city of tribes for their All Ireland League fixture against Galwegians last weekend.
The Wicklow men travelled with memories of an equally difficult day two years ago when an early seventeen point lead was turned over by ‘Wegians into a 27-17 defeat that proved the difference between staying in Division 2A and relegation to 2B at the end of that 2017/18 season.
Galwegians survived that year at the expense of Greystones but succumbed to relegation at the end of last season to set up this first return fixture since ‘Stones last campaign at the higher division was blown off course in Galway.
Playing into the elements in the first half Greystones sought to counter the wind with straight line running and keeping the ball in hand attacking the Galwegians defensive line with intent whilst the hosts played the elements by kicking the ball long into the corners.
This led to an open entertaining game in which Galwegians were the first to put points on the board courtesy of a penalty from outhalf Ewan Strang after 15 minutes.
Five minutes later Greystones struck for the first of six tries they were to record when scum half Alex Ryan went on a mazy run through the home defence to score under the posts leaving a straightforward conversion for Andrew Kealy.
Galwegians added a second penalty through Strang three minutes later to close the gap before Kealy slotted a penalty of his own to push the advantage to 10–6 after 27 minutes.
Galwegians re-took the lead two minutes later when a well worked move was finished in the corner by winger Sandile Sibande to give the home side a one point advantage at 11–10 with ten minutes of the first half to play but Greystones had no intention of consolidating their position until they could turn around and take advantage of the wind for the second half.
Instead they continued to take the game to Galwegians constantly running at and probing the home defence with centres Con Callan and Jay Curran making ground and giving Greystones territory in the ‘Wegians half.
This full on attacking play paid dividends five minutes from half time when second row Chris Simmonds picked from a ruck inside the Galwegians ten metre line and ran down the right wing, beating the defensive cover to score in the corner. The difficult conversion drifted wide of the posts but Greystones went in at half time with a four point advantage with a scoreline of 11–15.
With the second half just a couple of minutes old Greystones extended their lead when John Campbell finished a forward drive to the fine and within five minutes of the restart the bonus point was in the bag when Paudie Geoghegan finished with a run in from 30 meters to score.
With the score board showing the homeside with a sixteen point deficit it was always going to be a big asked to come back and get something from the game but Galwegians never gave up. The gap was narrowed to eleven points with their second try by captain Marty Cummins before Geoghegan grabbed his second try of the afternoon, converted by Kealy to push the score to 16–34 on the hour mark.
With 20 minutes to play and the result secured Greystones head coach Kevin Lewis emptied his bench making seven changes in personnel and a number of positional switches to try out different combinations and players.
Galwegians took advantage and brought the game to ’Stones testing their defensive resilience. This paid off when a clearance kick was charged down close to the Greystones line and touched down in the ensuing scramble by substitute James Kennedy.
With three tries in the bag the home side could still take something from the game and never gave up trying. Their reward almost came on the 80 minute mark but the final pass for a run in was neatly intercepted by Greystones captain Killian Marmion who ran the length of the field to extend the points tally to 41 and it took until the seventh minute of additional time before ‘Wegians were finally rewarded when despite the presence of a number of Greystones defenders between the Galwegians maul and the try zone referee Rob Watson adjudged the ball had been touched down in what turned out to be the final play of the game.
The win and bonus point leaves Greystones sitting top of league Division 2B unbeaten in their first three games. Commenting after the match coach Kevin Lewis was pleased with his side’s performance but is looking for improvement to close out games without conceding late points, even when changes in personnel have to be made. Next up for ’Stones in the visit of Belfast Harlequins to Dr Hickey Park in two weeks time.
Elsewhere there was a clean sweep of wins for Greystones sides last weekend opening with a 32-22 for the thirds on Friday night against Naas and closing with three games on Sunday led by the women’s team who beat Arklow 34–26 to go to the top of Leinster Division 3, followed by the under-20s defeating Tullamore 27-19 for an unbeaten start to their league campaign and the seconds who beat Clontarf 17-12.
Greystones: Mark Meyler, Andrew Kealy, Jason Curran, Con Callan, Paudie Geoghegan, Killian Marmion, Alex Ryan Dan Mannion, Cormac O’Donoghue, Robin O’Sullivan, John Campbell, Chris Simmonds, Conor Pearse, Darragh Higgins, Dan Mau’u. Replacements; Barry Treanor, Ronan Kearney, Nick Quirke, Matt O’Brien, Alan Dempsey.