Supporters out in force to see Mayo club win Curley Cup
Ballyhaunis won a coveted Curley Cup title in front of their home supporters with a 37-17 victory over University of Galway on Sunday afternoon last, and there was a great build-up to the game in the east Mayo town, which was bedecked in the club colours of purple and gold, writes Patrick Hennelly.
“We really put an emphasis on winning the Curley Cup,” said Ballyhaunis RFC manager Gabriel Gallagher.
“We wanted to show our supporters how well we have been progressing this year. That first try settled us down and we took off from there.”
Despite enjoying a 15-0 lead at the break, Gallager knew that University of Galway would launch a comeback at some stage.
“We had all of the possession in the first half, and we dropped one ball under the posts from a good scoring position.
"We knew that University of Galway would have a purple patch at some stage and that we would have to have built up a good score before that.”
WHIRLWIND
The home side made a whirlwind start and notched the opening try inside the first minute. Luke Walsh and Scott Finlay combined to tee up Danny Hill who gleefully crossed the try line, much to the delight of the large home attendance. Finlay’s radar was slightly askew for the opening conversion, but nonetheless Ballyhaunis now had a platform to build on.
Backed by their vocal home supporters, Ballyhaunis continued to apply stern pressure and their endeavour was rewarded when Finlay guided over a penalty on six minutes.
University of Galway couldn’t break out of their own half and were on the backfoot for long spells of the first 40 minutes.
Led by Finlay and James Doyle, the east Mayo men continued to chase and harry, and the hosts added their second try on 22 minutes when the industrious Rowan Gouws claimed a touchdown. Finlay guided over the subsequent placed ball and Gabriel Gallagher’s troops led 15-0.
A dominant Ballyhaunis could have tagged on further scores before the break. On 29 minutes, a superb cross-field dinked ball from Finlay almost set up a try-scoring opportunity but the move didn’t fully materialise and the visitors were awarded a penalty for an infringement.
Trailing 15-0 at the interval, a positive start to the new half was imperative for University of Galway and following a sustained period of pressure, the students scored a try courtesy of Jack Fitzgerald.
Ballyhaunis bounced back in impressive fashion, however, as Michael Jordan emerged from a maul to just about cross the whitewash on 54 minutes.
But University of Galway were beginning to grow in stature and two minutes later the deficit was reduced to 10 points (20-10) when Eoghan Cullen plundered a try after he received a pass from Cian Cleary. The aforementioned Cleary was most unlucky from the conversion as his effort clipped the post.
The game was delicately poised but Ballyhaunis have been an improving unit as the season has progressed and their guile and creativity came to the fore on 63 minutes. In what was a deadly counter-offensive move, the darting William Cunnane won possession and duly crossed the line, with Finlay coolness personified from the conversion.
University of Galway refused to throw in the towel and set up a tense finale when their outside-centre Ross Cleary pinched possession and sallied towards the Ballyhaunis line to claim a five-pointer. Cian Cleary scored the conversion and now there were just 10 points separating the sides with 12 minutes remaining.
However, cometh the hour, cometh the man, and a magnificent long-range penalty from Ballyhaunis’ Finlay on 74 minutes helped settle his team once again.
The locals ended the game in a sprightly fashion, with Gouws adding another try on 79 minutes and Finaly converting to put the icing on the cake.
Ballyhaunis are flying high in the Connacht J1B league as well, and Gallagher is looking forward to the remainder of the season.
He explained: “We play Galwegians at home in the league next Sunday and if we win that game we will be guaranteed a league semi-final.
“This is a real family club, and everyone in the town got behind the team and there was a real positive vibe here today.”
Ballyhaunis: A. Healy, J. Morley, H. Morgan, P. Egan, B. McLoughlin, C. Nolan, J. Doyle, F. Crawley, R. Gouws, S. Finlay, K. McDermott, W. Cunnane, D. Hill, G. Horan, L. Walsh.
Replacements: P. Carney, S. Óg Frayne, M. Macken, M. Jordan, J. Frayne, B. Horan, D. Murphy, W. Ganley, S. Griffin.
University of Galway: L. Melia, O. Soden, J. Maunsell, T. McCabe, F. O’Connor, S. Devlin, S. McDonnell, H. Keaveney, C. Cleary, D. O’Connor, J. Fitzgerald, J. Kennedy, R. Cleary, F. O’Griofa, E. Cullen.
Replacements: L. Layden, C. Leahy, S. Crowley, A. Ford, M. McElhinney, J. Le Lievre, R. Aghabueze, S. Garavan.
Referee: D. Burke.