Sligo’s late rally secures cup glory in Connacht

Sligo Grammar 10 Garbally College 9

His school was staring at a seventh Connacht senior cup final defeat in 11 years, as they trailed by 9-3, when they staged a last-gasp rally.

Conway got the touchdown a couple of minutes from the end from a lineout drive after a penalty to the right corner when they trailed by six points.

The try still left Sligo trailing by a point but centre Matthew Cosgrove kept his nerve and slotted the conversion to edge them in front for the first time in the game.

There was still time for Garbally College to mount a final assault but Simon Keller, the hero last week when he scored and converted the equalising try, saw a snapped drop goal under pressure narrowly miss the target.

SLIGO GRAMMAR: R Feehily; TJ Ford, D Byrne, M Cosgrove, P Oloyede; P Kilcoyne, P Brittan; N Walker, J Oloyede, D Smith; A McGuinn, J Sexton; J Conway, D Layden, J Bennett.

Replacements: N Barthel for Brittain (56).

GARBALLY COLLEGE: E McCormack; P Flannery, S Horan, I Duffy, S Tierney; S Keller, D Reilly; D O’Hara, C Noone, C Kenny; S Holland, P Claffey; C Barrett, D Connolly, J Codyre.

Replacements: A Foulger for McCormack (55), A Kennedy for Noone (60), R Glennon for Kenny (67).

Referee: K Collins (CBIRFU).