Galwegians blow chances

GALWEGIANS could and should have been comfortably out of reach at half-time in their AIL meeting with Cork Con, but in the end, the better team won the opening AIB League encounter of the year at Crowley Park on Saturday.

Cork Constitution supporters wore an understandable grin after their side had somehow eked out a 14-6 victory. They knew only too well that they owed the four points more to the shortcomings of the opposition rather than any particular brilliance on their own part. Constitution skipper Ultan O'Callaghan had no doubt as to why his side came out on top.

"You can't beat heart," he insisted. Con certainly competed with the kind of spirit and determination that one expects of such a renowned institution and performed well enough against all the odds in the second half to snatch the four points. They had the cold, stiff wind at their backs in the first half and even so, did remarkably well to turn over leading by 6-5. Scrum-half Pat McCarthy kicked them into an eighth minute lead but 'Wegians looked to have struck for a crucial try after quarter of an hour. An attempted box kick by their scrum-half Alex Page was touched in flight, thereby playing a whole host of their players on side. They duly broke up the middle of the field for Mervyn Murphy to use his bulk and experience to race over for a well taken try. McCarthy restored Con's lead with a penalty but in the run in to half-time, the home side had enough chances to win two matches. They missed two particularly gilt-edged try-scoring opportunities through unforgivably poor passing within yards of the Constitution line. Their coach, Kevin Dineen, couldn't believe what he was seeing. "We opened them up four times but our full-back Ger Brady messed up what should have been two tries; it's very disappointing because he is normally so reliable," Dineen lamented. Well, if he thought that was bad, even worse lay in wait on the turnover!