Galway Tribesmen 66-18 Athboy 'Fighting Irish'
by Thomas Hynes
The Galway Tribesmen Rugby League team hosted the Athboy ‘Fighting Irish’ at South Park, Claddagh last Saturday, fresh on the back of victory against the current All Ireland champions the previous week.
The Athboy team who consisted mainly of a younger group of players then their Galway counterparts travelled West with high hopes, having ran them close the last time they met. The game which was played in warm conditions began with the Tribesmen kicking off to Athboy.
The Meath men completed their first set and kicked on the sixth tackle from their 40-metre line deep into the Tribesmen half. The Galway men worked their way up the field and a quick play the ball resulted in Athboy being penalized for being offside.
The Tribesmen gained a good field position with the next set of plays but knocked the ball forward, two metres from Athboy’s line. In the subsequent set, Galway were then deemed to be offside which resulted in a penalty for Athboy and the Meath men quickly made their way down the field and again kicked on the sixth tackle.
The Tribesmen gathered the ball from the kick and hard running from front rowers Mata Fifita and Abdulhaq Abayomi gained them considerable distance. Captain Matthew Towey broke through a tackle and offloaded to Barry Walsh who ran in to register the first score for the Galway men.
Walsh converted his own try and the scores were 6-0 to the Tribesmen. Athboy restarted the game with a long kick again which was returned by the Tribesmen with interest. Ryan Guilfoyle made good metres from acting half back and set up Seosamh McDonagh to register another score.
Walsh converted again to put the Tribesmen 12 points to the good after 15 mins. However, with the introduction of the experienced Simon Deevy from the bench, the Meath men rallied and a strong run from powerful centre Stefan Bores, breached the Galway line and he was able to cross the goal line for Athboy.
Conor Hayes converted to put the scores at 12-6 to the Tribesmen. After the restart the Galway men dug in and defended furiously, and when they regained the ball, a robust run from Fifita gained good ground as he burst through the Athboy defence and crossed the white wash with three or four Meath men clinging to him.
Further scores followed from Guilfoyle and another one from Walsh. With Walsh maintaining his fantastic goal kicking record, the scores were now 30-6 to the Tribesmen and this is how the half ended.
Athboy kicked off to restart the game and Fifita caught the ball from the kickoff, he then charged 40 metres down the pitch before offloading to Roy Stanley who crossed to register another four points. This one was converted by McDonagh.
A few minutes later Walsh completed his hat trick and the score was now 42-6 to the Tribesmen. The Meath men continued to battle to try and gain a foothold and live wire hooker Alan Foley created an opportunity for himself to score a try.
This was converted by scrum half Nathan Kiernan to put the score at 42-12. This was, unfortunately for Athboy, a slight respite as the Tribesmen became more dominant as the half progressed. The impressive James Reynolds scored a try and Mata Fifita, whom Athboy were finding difficult to contain, scored his second and third try with some powerful running.
Athboy did manage to register another score when a determined Conor Hayes broke down the right-hand channel and crossed the whitewash. He converted his own try to add to Athboy’s tally giving them 18 points.
The Tribesmen were not quite finished though as James Reynolds spilt the Athboy defence and showed a clean pair of heels to run 50 metres and score his second of the day. The conversion from Walsh was the final action of the game and it finished 66-18 to the Galway men.
The Tribesmen now have a ‘rest’ weekend next week before they travel to newcomers Malahide Rugby League, however the Tribesmen second team will be in action next week at Southpark when they face the Waterford Vikings.
