Dungannon 28

Galwegians 27

IN yet another cruel twist in their season to date, Galwegians suffered more last-gasp agony as they were undone when hosts Dungannon snatched the unlikeliest of wins at Stevenson Park on Saturday. Wegians utterly dominated and led this game for almost 70 minutes, yet somehow still ended up on the losing side.

The Blues came into this as firm underdogs in the eyes of many, facing the Ulstermen who were in second place in the table. Wegians head coach Brendan Guilfoyle was forced into making five changes, having lost the services of Connacht Academy members involved in their game the previous week.

Into the starting back-line came Rob Deacy, Cam Carruthers and Oisin McKey, while in the forwards Dylan Keane and no. 8 Liam Angermann returned from injury, the latter making his first AIL start of the season having recovered from a lengthy lay-off.

All had a point to prove and the Blues quickly put down a marker. They attacked from the off, and before Dungannon had barely touched the ball, some patient forceful attacking rugby led to Rob Deacy powering over in the right corner for the opening try.  Stevie Mannion, who partnered Deacy at inside centre, missed with a difficult kick into the cross-breeze.

Despite having the wind at their backs, Dungannon were unable to make much impression as the Blues comfortably dealt with anything which came their way. However, Wegians were unfortunate to lose the services of two starting front-row players in the first ten minutes – hooker Ryan Smith and prop Guerschom Mukendi. Although Mukendi returned late on, this would put severe strain on their resources which they could have done without.

Despite some loose kicking at times which invited opposition pressure, there was little to worry about for the Blues until the 23rd minute when Gannon kicked a penalty to the corner, and following several phases their bulky inside centre Kyle Gormley finished a lineout maul by barrelling over near the posts. Scrum-half Toby Gribben added the extras, and the hosts suddenly led 7-5 against the run of play.

Undaunted, Wegians regrouped. They owned possession and territory for the remainder of the half, and a succession of 5m scrum penalties on the half-hour mark saw Dungannon lose prop Sean O’Hagan to the bin, with Blues loose-head Kobi Joyce giving him a torrid time in the set-piece.

Pictured: Galwegians centre Steve Mannion whose late attempt at a match-winning penalty just failed away to Dungannon in the AIL on Saturday.