West Offaly Lions News

The West Offaly Lions made the long journey to Clifden  Co. Galway home of the Connemara Blacks for what turned out to be an entrawling game that could have swung either way but thankfully at the final whistle it was in the favor of the Offaly side.

The West Offaly Lions got off to a wonderfull start when center Tom Gilligan latched onto a long pass from the Connemara out half and sprinted from his own 22 to touch down under the posts which in turn was converted by Donal Corbett but after this the Lions never really seezed control of the game and although Corbett added another three points for a penalty the Connemara Blacks were slowly getting a foothold in the game they started putting together some good phases until eventually the barrier was broken the ball was shipped out wide from a ruck and touched down by the winger they added the conversion and it was game on. Connemara then added another penalty to edge them infront but they never really threatened the try line for the remainder of the half. The second half began and it was tit for tat Corbett added a penalty to level matters and it looked as though it was heading for deadlock, the Lions had one excellent break in the second half but failed to excute the chance, then deep in Connemara teority and after a clearing kick from their out half, Brian Gleeson took a quick line out, after some unsavory comments to the touch judge the referee awarded a penalty to the lions on the 22 right beside the touch line and the pressure was on, Corbett pointed to the posts placed his kick and bisected the uprights straight down the middle a huge roar went up from the travelling supporters it was game over. Every man stood up and was counted and there were some fine displays all over the field from Adrian Coughlan,  Liam Browne and Sean Henry in the forwards to Richie Clancy and Jeffery Cuskley in the backs to name just a few, from 1 to 15 it was a huge performance now the league is in there grasp. Come on the Lions

 Training continues Tuesday evening on the asto turf