Elwood is the driving force

As the announcement came at half-time that punch was available at the clubhouse, it was difficult to escape the notion that Terenure…

As the announcement came at half-time that punch was available at the clubhouse, it was difficult to escape the notion that Terenure College must have been punch-drunk, such was the buffeting they took from a rampant Galwegians on Saturday.

At the hub of all this was outhalf Eric Elwood, who finished with 32 points. Two early penalties eased Galwegians into the game, and the first of his two tries came in the 15th minute, when Bryan Shelbourne's flat pass invited him onto the ball and through a liquid tackle by Eric Miller.

Elwood converted, and did so again three minutes later, when, this time, centre Tim Allnutt clipped out of an equally uncharacteristic non-tackle from Michael Smyth.

Gavin Duffy's timing into the line earned him a try in the 29th minute after the impressive Shelbourne and openside John Barfoot shredded the none-too-committed home defence.

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After some of the crowd had quaffed their punch at half-time, they returned to see a groggy Terenure take further punishment as Galwegians continued on their merry way with Elwood shooting the lights out.

Scoring Sequence: 2 mins: E Elwood pen 0-3; 5: R Governey pen 3-3; 11: Elwood pen 3-6; 15: Elwood try, con 3-13; 18: T Allnutt try, Elwood con 3-20; 22: Governey pen 6-20; 29: G Duffy try, Elwood con 6-27; 38: Governey p en 9-27; 39: Elwood pen 9-30. Half-time. 45: Elwood pen 9-33; 50: G Brady try 938; 53: R Governey pen 12-38; 58: D Coleman try 17-38; 61: P Duignan try, Elwood con 17-45; 70: Elwood try, con 17-52; 78: P O'Malley try, Governey con 24-52.

TERENURE COLLEGE: R Governey; D Coleman, M O'Kelly, M Smyth, J Coffey; S Cullen, G Hegarty; J Nolan, J Blaney, J Campbell, C Long, D Quinn, L Hammond, E Miller, P O'Malley. Replacements: K Putt for Campbell (48 mins), D Mahony for Coleman (J Keogh for Nolan, B Kavanagh for O'Malley (all 78 mins).

GALWEGIANS: G Duffy; G Brady, P Duignan, T Allnutt, D Rumney; E Elwood, B Shelbourne; D McFarland, P Cleary, P Bracken, J Casserley, M McConnell, B Gavin, M Swift, J Barfoot. Replacements: D Browne for Casserly (56 mins), A Kershaw for Bracken (58 mins), J Charlie for Swift (60 mins), M Murphy for Allnut (71 mins), J Heaslip for Shelbourne (78 mins).

Referee: L Mayne (Munster).