Tuam Development 23 Carrick-on-Shannon 22

A game that went right down to the wire saw Tuam come out with the victory by the slimmest of margins in an absorbing J1C tie at Garraun Park yesterday.

A try by Dave Cunningham six minutes from time, converted by Oisin McWalter was the final scoring action in a game that could have gone either way. Thankfully for Tuam, they withstood a late Carrick onslaught and six minutes of added time to secure a vital win.

It was Carrick who got the first score of the game after just five minutes when their open-side flanker spotted a gap to run in, under the posts for a five pointer. Their scrum-half converted to give the visitors the perfect start.

Oisín McWalter got Tuam up and running with an 11th minute penalty. His brother, Cormac, produced a moment of magic in the 18th minute when his clever chip inside the Carrick '22 caught them unaware and McWalter put on the after burners to gather and touch down for a brilliant individual try. Oisín added the conversion to give Tuam a 10-7 lead.

Parity was restored three minutes later with a penalty only for Eoghan Kelly to reply with a Tuam penalty in the 32nd minute. As the half drew to a close Tuam were hit with a double blow with the concession of a try and a man sent to the bin.

However, Oisín converted a close range penalty five minutes into the second half to give Tuam a slender 16-15 lead.

In a case of déja vue, Tuam conceded a converted try and had a man sent to the sin bin in the 57th minute. Yet despite this setback, they kept at the task in hand and although it looked like it might not be their day, the homeside got the converted try needed to sneak in front once more.

After phase after phase of attack inside the Carrick '22 and with the away side giving away multiple penalties, the referee lost patience and sent a Carrick player to the sin bin. Tuam immediately made their numerical advantage count when Dave Cunningham powered over to put a solitary point between the sides. A pressure kick for Oisín. However he made no mistake with the conversion and crucially Tuam led 23-22 with time ticking down.

Yet Carrick refused to lie down and went in search of a score which made it a nail-biting finish. Twice Carrick looked to be in for a try. Firstly with the clock in the red, their attack over the Tuam whitewash ended when the Tuam defence somehow managed to hold the ball up. Then in the sixth minute of added time they looked to have the numbers on the right hand side with a through the hands move but Eoghan Kelly managed to intercept the attack. A huge moment.

There was great excitement and relief when the referee finally blew the whistle and Tuam came out the right side of a thriller. Well done to both teams on what was a really good game of rugby.

Next up for our development team is Monivea in the Curley Shield final on Sunday in Headford with a 3pm kick off.