Galwegians 38

Bangor 14

Jamie Curley at Glenina

Galwegians return to second in the Division 2C table after a resounding victory over Bangor RFC in their fight for the playoff spots in Genina last Saturday.

After three defeats in a row, all of which were against promotion rivals, Galwegians finally returned to their winning form and are in the hot seat for the playoffs with three games to go.

Two changes were made to the Galwegians XV that played Bruff last time around saw Dylan Keane return at blindside, with Oisin Halpin reverting to the second row. It was the first time this season that Galwegians’ front row was altered as captain Jack Winters made way for Mick McColgan, who made his first AIL start. Welshman Garyn Daniel, who joined the Blues this season, was given the captain’s armband in Winter’s absence

Galwegians started with a flourish, as Ryan Smith opened the scoring from a lineout maul. Tiarnan Neville set up the Blues with some expert precision kicking from a 50-22. From there, the Galwegians’ maul was superior and Smith got the finish to open their account. Neville’s kicking remained on point with the conversion to make it 7-0.

Galwegians dominated the opening 10 minutes and soon enough were in again. This time Shane Mallon scored in the corner. Great play through the hands from the Galwegians’ backs saw Mallon in position and danced past three players to score in the corner.

Bangor, who were desperate for a result with their AIL status in jeopardy, started to apply the pressure, and with the wind blowing on their backs, they came close on a few occasions but were held-up on the line by a resilient defensive effort.

Bangor finally capitalised and scored through substitute Paddy Dobie. Working through the phases, Dobie broke away from the tackles of the forwards and touched down, and Gareth Millar converted to make it 12-7 to give Bangor something heading towards half-time.

Pictured: Gary Daniel was handed the captain’s armband for the game.