Development team secure vital victory
HAVING only won a single match all season and sitting firmly at the bottom of the Connacht J1A league, it was essential that the home side throw down the gauntlet last Sunday and bring home all four points in their crunch game against Westport RFC.
Conditions were far from perfect in Hamilton Park, with a strong swirling wind impacting the kicking game and rain showers making handling difficult, the home side were determined to reverse their fortunes after losing to Westport away by a mere 4 points.
It was the visitors who had a better start to the game, putting the Sligo defence to the test for the first 10minutes of the match. The home side eventually gelled, and they had a sustained period of pressure inside the Westport 22. They were eventually rewarded as winger Kevin Connell raced over the line to open the scoring after 23minutes. Garry O’Hehir’s well-struck conversion was thwarted by the strong wind, drifting to the left of the upright.
Sligo were now in the ascendancy and continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession.
Less than five minutes later, Garry O’Hehir was stepping up to slot home the conversion on Sligo’s second try. A David Heath break on the half-way line released Sean Mullins to use his pace to punch through the Westport defence. The Sligo tails were up now and a well-placed Garry O’Hehir kick was chased by Kevin Connell and grounded for his 2nd try. O’Hehir added the extras to bring the score to 19-0 at half-time. THE second half saw a Westport revival, as they were determined to claw back the deficit. The visitors opened their scoring in the 47th minute when they dotted down between the posts from a penalty advantage. Garry O’Hehir had a well-taken penalty 5minutes later. Westport continued to press and attained a numerical advantage when a succession of penalties against the home side, resulted in a sin binning. The Sligo defence was solid, but the big Westport pack eventually broke through to touch down again and reduce the margin to 10points. Sligo won the ball back from the restart and went through the phases in the Westport half, eventually winning a penalty, which they opted to kick, to put the game beyond the visitors with less than 3minutes of time left on the clock. O’Hehir’s effort was awarded by both touch judges, to the delight of the exuberant home crowd. However, in a strange turn of events, the referee overruled the touch judges’ decision and the denied the home side their 3points. Westport were determined to bring a losing bonus point away with them and made the most of the extended injury time played by the referee, scoring their 3rd try and adding the extra two points, to reduce the winning margin to 3. THE Development Team take a break from competition for the Christmas period and return to action on January 6th, when they travel to Monivea.