Galwegians reward Hook

Newly appointed coach George Hook rang the changes at Galwegians and the revamped side rewarded him with their first win at the expense of Clontarf at Crowley Park on Saturday.

Galwegians stalwart Pat Leahy started in his first league match, while the former Australian prop Peter Kay was relegated to the bench. Also sitting out the game were Connacht prop Mick Finlay and hooker Kevin Tierney, while several positional switches, most notably a move to right wing for international centre Pat Duignan all added much needed impetus into Galwegians' season.

Out-half Eric Elwood and Clontarf's Richie Murphy exchanged early penalties before Elwood lofted a cross-field ball inside the 22 that saw Nigel Carolan loop from his left wing to claim the catch and touch down in the right corner. Elwood's conversion and another exchange of penalties had the home side 13-6 in front. However, Clontarf clawed their way back and in the 41st minute centre Turlough Meagher capitalised on the stretched Galwegian cover to close the half-time gap to 13-11.

However Pat Duignan made Galwegians' second try look easy as he carved through the Clontarf defence on the diagonal after an initial burst from centre Mervyn Murphy. Elwood converted to make it 20-11 but Clontarf edged back into contention with a simple penalty from Murphy. Galwegians scrum-half Diarmuid Reddan started and finished a well worked move from inside his own half to notch try number three and although Clontarf's Nicky Barry scored late, Elwood wrapped up the game with an 81st minute penalty.

Scoring sequence: 10 mins: Elwood pen, 30; 14: Murphy pen, 3-3; 25: Carolan try, 36: Murphy pen, 10-6; 38: Elwood pen, 13-6; 41: Meagher try, 13-11; 49: Duignan try, Elwood con, 20-11; 53: Murphy pen, 20-14; 75: Reddan try, Elwood con, 27-14; 79: Barry try, Murphy con, 27-21; 81: Elwood pen, 30-21.

Galwegians: W Ruane, P Duignan, A Reddan, M Murphy, N Carolan, E Elwood, D Reddan, P Leahy, D Lee, D Dobson, G Heaslip, J Duffy, B Gavin, J Charlie, J Casserley. Replacements: P Kay for Leahy (h-t).

Clontarf: M Woods, N Barry, T Meagher, S Fitzsimons, O Winchester, R Murphy, R O'Reilly, H Hurley, B Jackman, P McQuillan, R Vorster, C Power, C Brownlie, P Ward, D Moore. Replacements: D O'Brien for Brownlie (50 mins), D Rossi for Woods (76 mins), W O'Kelly for McQuillan (77 mins).

Referee: D McHugh (Munster).