Mayo rugby club lose epic contest

A gallant display by Westport proved in vain as Tuam edged an epic Connacht Junior Cup quarter-final on a score-line of 27-26, at Garraun Park.

Westport produced a barnstorming finish, however, the locals circled the wagons and held on for a famous victory.

Westport made a brilliant start to the tie and a Tom Dever try, followed by an Alan Masterson conversion, delighted the away supporters at the well-attended north Galway venue.

However, backed by a vocal home support, Tuam bounced back and a fine touchdown by Sean Maughan reignited the hosts game plan.

The navy and blue regrouped, and Masterson’s brace of well-taken penalties helped muster a 16-8 lead for the west Mayo side.

With half-time looming, the Tuam game plan suffered a setback when Andrew Atonio picked up a yellow card and was sin-binned.

Westport finished the half strongly, and a superb try from Kevin Corcoran helped garner a 21-8 interval lead for the visitors.

The Tuam half-time pep-talk appeared to have worked as five minutes into the new half the hard-working Owen Halion scored a try, which was boosted by Matthew Ward’s conversion.

The momentum was now with the red and blue and they reduced the deficit to the bare minimum when Johannes Terblanche crossed the whitewash.

Tuam continued to up the tempo and the hosts took the lead on 75 minutes. Luke Cronin offloaded possession to his team-mate Ross Fahy and the latter scored a game changing try, much to the delight of the home supporters. Cronin added the conversion, and Westport trailed 27-21.

To their credit, the Mayo men refused to give up the chase and a late try from Conor Calvey set-up a grandstand finish.

Westport valiantly tried to get a match-winning score, but Tuam held on to advance to the semi-finals.