Galwegians had never been better primed, but perhaps therein lay the rub. Before the game at Crowley Park, club president John Sherry had opined that the key for the new leaders was not to look down from the tightrope, but this summit meeting seemed to give them an acute case of vertigo.
There could be no other explanation for collective tackling from the outset that, utterly untypically, was more inoffensive than offensive. Granted this match was as much about what a focused and determined Constitution did, but the prime reason why the visitors had the more dynamic ball-carriers was because their first-up tackles were also so much better.
Stand-offish from the start, Galwegians were rocked on their heels by an orthodox Con try inside 90 seconds, as the ploy of leaving Aussie backrower Craig Taylor on the wing off recycled ball saw him saunter over for his sixth try of the campaign. Frankie Sheahan and Jerry Murray had provided the hard yards, Brian Walsh the half-break and offload.
Galwegians remained unsteady until Walsh and Jerry Murray combined to put Anthony Horgan over and then Conor Mahony broke four would-be tackles off quick line-out ball to score a superb/soft solo try (depending on your perspective). Annoyed by an untypical tally of 28 missed tackles, John Kingston was not inclined to dispute the idea of stage fright. "In the first 15 minutes I felt we froze and didn't hit things hard. They didn't score points because they had the wind, they scored points because we stood back and let them pass out of the tackle. The weight of tackle wasn't there." This type of performance would not happen again next week away to Ballymena, "I can assure you of that".
Fine control of the ball with close-in driving in the second quarter did lead to Eric Elwood penalties either side of the break, though it was also a template for Con's second-half tactics into the wind. In response, a key break from deep by Horgan, supported by Mahony, led to a Brian O'Meara penalty and commanding reminder of Con's supremacy. Two missed penalties by Elwood around the hour saw 'Wegians ebb away before the deserving Derek Dillon sauntered in for a bonus point with the last play from Mick O'Driscoll's skip pass.
In hindsight, two off-colour performances in a row made a third less likely. "We needed 15 Roy Keanes today," said Brian Hickey. "We couldn't wait for something to happen and I think that showed today. If you were to ask me to pick out my man of the match I can think of different times in the match when different players stood up and were counted."
At the coalface, Ian Murray returned and put in a host of fringe tackles, Sheahan augmented his usual high-quality setpiece work with strong ball-carrying while, as Hickey admitted, Donnacha O'Callaghan was "awesome". His superb athleticism is given more scope at blindside than lock, and given Munster's back-row troubles he looks a shoein there for the Euro semi-final.
Arguably the most telling difference between the sides was the space and options available to the respective playmakers. Elwood was almost consumed in possession, thanks largely to Bryan Shelbourne compounding a slow pass with an irritating habit of surveying the scenery or having a cut before eventually deciding to move the ball on. Mahony, meantime, showed what a good running playmaker he is from O'Meara's excellent service, augmenting this with an ability to support team-mates' breaks. Con have now won all six games he has started and if he wasn't calling the shots, Walsh - given inordinate time to offload before or in the tackle - was an auxiliary playmaker. In essence they bossed it, and while Galwegians may yet get another cut at Con, this will leave its psychological marks.
SCORING SEQUENCE: Two 2 mins: Taylor 05; 15 mins: Horgan try, O'Meara con 0-12; 19 mins: Mahony try 0-17; 37 mins: Elwood pen 3-17; 45 mins: Elwood pen 6-17; 49 mins: O'Meara pen 6-20; 83 mins: Dillon try 6-25.
GALWEGIANS: W Ruane; G Duffy, P Duignan, T Allnutt, G Brady; E Elwood, B Shelbourne; D McFarland, P Cleary, P Bracken, D Browne, M McConnell, B Gavin, M Swift, J Charlie. Replacements: A Kershaw for McFarland, J Casserly for Browne, M Murphy for Allnutt (all 63 mins).
CORK CONSTITUTION: B Walsh; D Dillon, J Kelly, R O'Donovan, A Horgan; Conor Mahony, B O'Meara; I Murray, F Sheahan, J O'Driscoll, K Murphy, M O'Driscoll, D O'Callaghan, C Taylor, J Murray. Replacements: J Fogarty for J Murray (74 mins), E Thorpe for Murphy (80 mins).
Referee: A Rolland (IRFU).
