University of Galway 20 Tuam 22

Relief and delight were the two overriding emotions felt by Tuam as they saw a late University of Galway conversion attempt come back off the post which meant they left Dangan with a vital two point victory.

The homeside started the brighter and took the lead after 5 minutes with a penalty and despite dominating possession for the opening quarter, they could not breakdown the Tuam defence.

Instead it was Tuam who burst into life with 2 tries in four minutes. Firstly Johannes Terblanche got over for a try in the 25th minute which Carl Ward converted then a driving Tuam maul saw John Fahy touch down to give Tuam a 12-3 lead.

It got better for the away side on the stroke of half time when another driving maul resulted in a third Tuam try. This time it was Alan Tierney who got the try and Ward added the extras to give Tuam a 19-3 half-time lead.

The homeside needed to respond and did so with a try 7 minutes in the second half but a Killian McDonagh penalty kept Tuam in control as they led 22-8 approaching the hour mark.

However, University of Galway got in for a 65th minute converted try to set up a fascinating final 15 minutes. Tuam did keep the homeside out until the 78th minute when the students got over for a crucial try. The conversion would have levelled matters but much to Tuam's relief it came back off the post and Tuam's lead was still intact.

The referee eventually blew the full-time whistle, much to the delight of the large travelling support. Well done lads, a well earned victory and now it's onto Westport on Saturday evening for our final game of the league stage.

A special mention and congratulations to Seàn Brandon who made his debut for the first team when he came on in the second half.

Thanks to everyone who made the trip to Dangan last Sunday.

PHOTO CREDIT: Owen Nally Photography