An Ghaeltacht Rugbai hosted 25 teams from 10 clubs around Ireland on Saturday, the fledgling rugby outpost outdid itself on sport and sunshine.

While temperatures failed to break 20degC, sun reigned supreme enhancing what is fast-becoming a high-profile and much sought-after spectacle. The fact Greystones, Dundalk and Gorey (Leinster), and Old Crescent (Munster) landed with full teams spoke volumes for the calibre of competition.

Monivea, An Ghaeltacht, Connemara, Corinthians, Claremorris and Na Bairneachai fronted for Connacht.

Aside from parents and coaches from throughout the Republic, Connacht premier players Andrew Browne, Dave Nolan, and Mark McCrea also landed out "wesht".

There also were members of the recently-crowned Under15 Connacht Cup champions, Corinthians/An Ghaeltacht, who drew nil-all in a frostbitten final on the Sportsground over Easter and won the ensuing replay four days later 14-8.

The irrepressible Cian Quinn scored a runaway try splitting the Sligo defence after a pitch-perfect back flick from centre Padhi Mac Cormaic. Mac Cormaic had already endeared himself to the sizable Corinthians/Ghaeltacht entourage knocking over three penalties, two of which from 44m and 50m out.

Hardly satisfied with Thursday's silverware, the 15s bolstered their trophy ranks on Saturday surpassing the Conamara Blacks 25-5.

Old Crescent was the pick of the visitors claiming the Under13 trophy 21-5 over a plucky Claremorris.

Westport's Under17s clinched a rare cup and league double in the Sportsground on Sunday, by way of a 29-20 thriller over Galwegians.

Rice College junior schools standout Tom McHale opened the scoring latching on to a wayward pass just short of the Galwegians line, Dwayne Corcoran responsible for the conversion.

A raft of first-half penalties stunted first-half continuity Galwegians converting one to points to squeeze the gap to four at the break.

Little separated the two in defence and at scrumtime, although Galwegians was able to assert a degree of dominance at line-out time. Self-belief and the weight of numbers just shy of the Westport line shoved Eoghan Hannon over for the Glenina gang's first try, Conor Lowndes on-song with the extras. Lowndes struck another screamer within minutes after a Westport indiscretion to go to 13, six points clear.

The growing deficit riled the Carrowholly complement who strung together a tidy passage of forward and back interplay and won a kickable penalty which Corcoran duly converted to halve the gap. A Westport try shortly after, lock-forward Rory Murphy crashed over backed by a groundswell of forward support. Corcoran failed to split the posts on that occasion however, Galwegians restarted two points in arrears 15-13.

Disappointed, Corcoran more than made amends within minutes nabbing a Galwegians pass 60metres out and made short work of the space between he and line. Tom McHale stepped up for the conversion.

Far from written off, Galwegians mounted a concerted campaign for field position, succeeded, and stand-out loose forward Liam McKnight continued his honest toil at the breakdown. Fellow Jes' College shipmate Ogie O'Malley, at outhalf, shot through desperate Westport defence to grab a second try for Wegians and closed the gap to two.

With the clock nearly exhausted, Galwegians sought something special for the finish, but it was Westport who secured a fairytale finish Paddy Galvey working a slick chip-and-chase on the final whistle, the Bulls' fourth try and a 29-20 finish.

The two met in Tuam for the league final, another nail-biter which did not disappoint. By virtue of that win, Westport won the opportunity to contest the All-Ireland competition which Galwegians won last year. The weekend's win for Westport cemented their position as the province's best, albeit under severe and staunch pressure from the Galwegians contenders.

Connacht's Coaching Cohort Eamonn Molloy and Cory Brown seek to clarify the spear (or dump) tackle this month, in the wake of Ulster Kiwi John Afoa's latest indiscretion. 

Also this month, the latest rake of Connacht level one coaching graduates and the summer schedule of Level Two instruction. 

Click here for Connacht Coaching's latest instalment Newsletter_3.pdf

Our Lady’s Boys Club denied a valiant Loughrea Cawley Cup spoils on Sunday afternoon in Glenina, Eamonn Dowling’s try and Dave Dooley’s sideline conversion pipping a Darragh Mooney penalty and dropped goal in the finish 7 points to 6.

Played in clear, still conditions at Galwegians (while youth and womens finals raged on the Sportsground), the game could have swung either way and remained anyone’s until the final whistle.

Loughrea opened as the savvier of the two plugging for position ahead of possession in the opening stages, forcing OLBC to hunker down on defence early on. Loughrea did the same in the closing stages as well and but for Boy’s Club centre Dave Prior’s face Loughrea nearly sealed the deal the same way they secured Sunday’s berth – with a dropgoal. The unsuccessful attempt slammed into Prior’s cheek shortly after leaving Michael Martyn's foot, and Boys Club denied the Div 1B hopefuls a fairytale finish.

For Boys Club, fullback Dooley stepped into the breach at outhalf after Donncha Carey left the field with a knee injury 25 minutes in. Dooley, who last played in the 10 jersey prior to secondary school, marshalled the white backline well on defence and looked comfortable enough in possession. Winger Pete Cosgrove shifted to the back and seconds captain Killian O’Brien took up the vacant wing.

For Loughrea, Archie Sitars carried well and proved a headache for several OLBC tacklers. Sitars has rarely shirked the tight stuff all winter, despite playing in the loose forwards, and is one of two or three go-to ball carriers sought by scrumhalf Greg Glynn.

Josh Hillas, another star since September, has made number-eight play a forte of his. Loughrea’s jerseys 10 through six: Darragh Mooney, Glynn, Hillas, Willie Cullinane and Sitars are among the best in junior rugby circles, and can shoulder much of the responsibility for Loughrea contesting two finals in the last month.

Boys Club tighthead Paul McCreanor, whose Connacht pedigree lists performances in Ballina, Galwegians and Corinthians jerseys, was immense for the Bohermore troupe.

As he has done throughout this season, he stood out at prop forward in the tight exchanges - necessary in the face of the strong and bulky Loughrea pack.

While Boys Club present a towering prospect for those opposite (six stand clear of six feet tall), they conceded a weight advantage to Loughrea throughout the panel. That said, Eamonn Dowling was the final’s only tryscorer (his third in three weeks), and little can be said for size in Sunday’s final given his frame was one of the smallest on show.

Coach Ambrose Conboy was typically-reserved after the victory but wore a smile regardless.

In his second year in charge, he has helped elevate OLBC to the All-Ireland Junior Cup later this year and now has high-profile Cawley Cup silverware on his CV. Conboy, with Kiwi-born Cory Brown, will guide the Connacht Junior campaign this winter, and hopes to retain the interprovincial title won last year.

Galwegians Women came off an All-Ireland Cup victory at St Mary’s (against Highfield) two weeks ago and returned to Templogue on Sunday for the winter’s penultimate league fixture against Mary’s.

The mathematically-impressive 43-17 scoreline went Wegians way, but stood at 43-nil with 12minutes left to play.

Galwegians put the result beyond doubt a quarter hour in racking up their third try but the opening stages were far from pretty. A static backline carting the ball from left to right posed no threat to a wary St Mary’s, but with space out wide (and lacklustre defence) wingers Sarah Healy and Lisa McDonagh managed scores, McDonagh’s tally finished at three.

Former internationals Nuala ni Chadhain (one) and Carol Staunton (two) both dotted down as well.

While St Mary’s defence beyond the 15m lines was nearly non-existent, their ball-retention was very much a strength.

Where they fell down was in picking the wrong defenders to run against, O’Reilly and Staunton made optimistic ball-carriers rue their choice of direction, shoving solitary carriers back two or three metres. When they hit together, the after-effects were near cataclysmic. On three occasions, players were snowballed several metres back in a whirlwind of scrumcapped aggression and on landing inevitably surrendered possession or conceded a penalty. Substitute flanker Sabina Egan followed suit with 30 minutes to go and joined the Staunton/O’Reilly barrage brigade punishing anyone with designs off the St Mary’s ruck fringe.

Scrumhalf Anne O’Callaghan fed well throughout be it outhalf Sorcha ni Chadhain or any one of several forward volunteers, and ni Chadhain at 10 had the luxury of feeding superbacks rather than resorting to the boot, even deep with the Wegians half.

This winter’s All-Ireland Cup champions and last year’s Paul Flood (Leinster Cup) winners have one game remaining, a final league fixture against a struggling Navan.

The AIL’s First Division split before Christmas into a top-four/bottom-four table, and Wegians’ win on the weekend cemented their destiny atop the secondary tier as Div 1B league champions.

The Navan game is scheduled for this Sunday, away.

Monivea tackles its test-match fixture on Saturday, in Skerries, to determine its 2012/13 rugby future.

Skerries pre-dates the County Galway contingent by 50 years, but neither pedigree nor expectation counts for anything on Saturday as each attempts to secure senior rugby status and inclusion in next winter’s All-Ireland League.

Monivea kicked off its promotion campaign in fine form 27-17 victors over Munster’s Richmond. Travelling to Tyrone to meet Clogher Valley in game two, the wheels fell off amid a second-half meltdown and a late dropgoal from the hosts dampened Monivea’s return home.

Skerries’ 40-point demolition of Clogher Valley in week one means Monivea’s weekend may yet hinge on the Richmond v Clogher Valley game but nevertheless requires an 80-minute success against the Leinster junior champions.

The great Galway hope is in the driving seat atop the best-of-the-rest at present, two points clear of fellow one-game winners Clogher Valley by way of bonus points – a four-try effort in game one, and narrow losing margin in the second. Clogher Valley boasts only the single win for four points on the four-way competition table.

Monivea skipper Darren Blade was typically honest in his appraisal of the campaign to date.

“We know our strengths. We knew them before the campaign started, and nothing much has changed,” the little general said.

“We knew them against Richmond and played to them, and for the most part did the same against Clogher Valley. We just let Clogher Valley start both halves too well and we really buttoned off midway through the second.

“We totally lost our structure which was heartbreaking because we did everything and had everything we needed to go into this weekend two from two.”

Blade said that while disappointment still lingered, everybody involved in the Monivea set-up was focused on Saturday’s finale.

“We know their strengths, they’re flashy. They’ve probably better backs than they have forwards, and they’re mobile. We know what we have to do to counter expansion, and we’ve proven this year we can beat them.”

Monivea pipped Skerries 9-8 in the first round of the All-Ireland Junior Cup. Kick-off is at 2.30pm in Holmpatrick.

Should Monivea win, they leapfrog Skerries for automatic qualification as a senior club only three points shy of them at present. A draw, or unlikely four-try loss within the seven-point margin would give them two points for a tournament tally of eight.

Anything short of a Saturday afternoon victory vests their destiny in Tyrone hands. A Richmond win or draw likely leaves Monivea clear of rivals Clogher Valley. A Clogher Valley victory in the event Monivea’s gameplan unravels spells heartbreak.

It is a big heart they boast too, evidenced by Blade and co’s decision to run a kickable penalty on fulltime in game one. That heart has to be come to the fore in foreign territory if they’ve any chance of securing a berth in next year’s All-Ireland senior club rugby competition.