Galwegians break Bangor hearts

It was a noteworthy day for Bangor as they hosted Galwegians for the first time in many years in the All Ireland League. The Galway side had been enjoying a great start to the season and was sitting at the top end of the table, in stark contrast to Bangor’s disappointing form which has seen them propping it up at the bottom end. However, Bangor have shown in the past that the form book can’t always be relied on and hopes were high that they would come away with something positive from this fixture.

As a mark of respect for Remembrance Day, there was a minute’s silence across Upritchard Park prior to the start of the game, with Bangor’s president Drew Kennedy having earlier laid a poppy wreath at the club’s remembrance plaque in honour of former players who had perished in both world wars.

Although Bangor fumbled the opening kick-off, early signs in both defence and attack looked good, and after just 4 minutes their efforts were rewarded with a well-taken try. Having won the ball in the middle of the pitch, Connor Scollan broke free and set off into the Galwegians half. With defenders both ahead of him and snapping at his heels, he off-loaded to Mike Weir who took the ball at pace and continued to drive through the remaining tacklers before touching down just to the right of the Galwegians posts. Gareth Millar added the conversion to put Bangor ahead by 7-0.

Unfortunately a couple of missed tackles by Bangor shortly afterwards allowed Galwegians to run in for their first converted try from a position that didn’t originally look that dangerous. In fact, while Galwegians enjoyed lengthy spells in possession, a combination of poor handling and mounting penalty offences meant their attacks came to nothing. From one of these high tackle offences, Gareth Millar successfully kicked the penalty to put Bangor back ahead by 10-7. Within minutes it was Millar once more who played a key role in Bangor’s next score. Another penalty brought play deep into Galwegians’ half. A much improved lineout performance secured the ball before moving it across the backs where it came to Millar. With Scollan in close support, it looked like an early pass would create a possible scoring opportunity. However, Millar expertly dummied the defender immediately in front of him, which allowed him to get past before making the pass to Scollan. This completely cleared the way for Scollan to run through for the try, and Millar completed the job with another conversion to put Bangor further ahead by 17-7.

Galwegians were stung into action and were soon back on the attack. Having taken play into Bangor’s twenty two, Galwegians were awarded a penalty as Bangor strayed offside at a ruck. As Bangor were moving back to set their defence, the Galwegians scrum half took a quick tap and darted through for an opportunist try which, also converted, brought the scores to 17-14. However, the visitors continued to concede penalties and Millar was soon able to add another kick to move Bangor into a 20-14 lead.

With 5 minutes of the opening half remaining, Galwegians set about the Bangor goal line once again. Where their backs had difficulty in breaking through, their forwards patiently kept the ball close and, after several pick and drives, managed to get the ball over for another converted try and take the lead for the first time in the game at 20-21. However, Bangor had the last word of the half when Millar successfully kicked another penalty – this time for holding a player without the ball – to put his side back in front by 23-21 as the referee blew for half time.
Bangor got the second half underway and immediately picked up where they left off by keeping play in the Galwegians twenty two. For a change, it was the visitors who were conceding the most penalties and within the first 10 minutes, Bangor had a couple of opportunities to kick for goal, but these were turned down in preference to taking an attacking scrum – which had, so far, been secure. Unfortunately, with their backs against the wall, Galwegians dug in and managed to disrupt Bangor’s set piece sufficiently to clear the danger. Given the narrow margins between the sides, with hindsight it might have been more prudent to take relatively easy points in preference to higher value tries, but one cannot fault Bangor’s intent and confidence to take this more precarious route.

The Galwegians indiscipline and untidy tackling eventually resulted in a yellow card, and during this period of manpower superiority Bangor added another Millar penalty, this time from 40 metres out, to take their score to 26-21, with less than 10 minutes remaining. A five point lead is not a comfortable one, as Bangor discovered earlier at Midleton and, and as the clock ran down, Galwegians threw everything into attack. Although under extreme pressure within their own twenty two, Bangor looked to have weathered the storm as they managed to win a goal line drop-out to clear the immediate danger. However, the kick was poorly directed and Galwegians took the opportunity to run straight back towards the Bangor goal line. As the clock went red, Galwegains continued to use their forward power to mount repeated drives for the line, while also moving slowly infield towards the Bangor posts. It wasn’t pretty, but the Galwegians forwards eventually managed to squeeze through Bangor’s defence and touch down for their bonus point try and level the scores at 26-26. Their last gasp escape was completed with the addition of the simple conversion from in front of the posts, taking the final score to 26-28, and leaving Bangor with just a losing bonus point for their efforts.

As the saying goes, it always easier to win when you’re winning, and the converse equally applies. However, while Bangor will be smarting over this cruel defeat, they have proved to be much better than their lowly league position would suggest and, with much better performances against two of the league’s top three teams in the past two weeks, they will approach next weekend’s trip to league leaders Clogher Valley with renewed confidence that the tide of results will soon turn in their favour.