Connacht 14
Glasgow Warriors 7
John Fallon reports from the Sportsground
CONNACHT’S GLORIOUS SEASON continued in the wind and rain at the Sportsground as they ended Glasgow’s nine-match winning run to book home advantage in their first ever semi-final.
Connacht will now welcome the Pro12 champions back to the Sportsground in two weeks as they bid to reach their first ever final in any competition.
And who would bet against Pat Lam’s men going on to lift Connacht’s first trophy in their 131-year history?
Glasgow had the breeze in the opening half but they failed to score in that period as Connacht took a 7-0 lead into the break, much to the joy of the capacity 7,786 crowd.
Gregor Townend’s men dominated the opening 15 minutes but were unable to get through the home defence, with Finn Russell also missing a penalty from 25 metres on the right after six minutes.
Leone Nakarawa led the Warriors challenge on a day when Kieran Marmion and Tiernan O’Halloran both made their 100th appearance for Connacht.
Connacht scored on their first attack after 17 minutes when they Marmion and AJ MacGinty worked the ball after a penalty to touch down the right and Bundee Aki supplied the rest, getting through to score his sixth try of the campaign at the base of the right post.
And with both the President Michael D Higgins and Taoiseach Enda Kenny cheering on their home province, MacGinty added the extras to make it 7-0 at the break.
Russell missed a second penalty, this time from 25 metres on the left, as Glasgow made little headway against an excellent home defence.
Glasgow got on top after the restart and were rewarded with a penalty to the left corner, with Gordon Reid peeling away to score.
Russell adding the conversion to tie the match at 7-7 apiece after 48 minutes.
But then Connacht countered and Glasgow were reduced to 14 men for the remainder of the game when Tongan prop Sila Puafisi was red-carded for a head-butting Marmion.
The champions held Connacht initially but more ill-discipline proved costly for the Scottish side when skipper Jonny Gray needlessly body-checked when Hogg had plenty of time to clear his lines.
Connacht went for the kill, going to the corner before replacement out-half Shane O’Leary executed a perfect cross-kick which O’Halloran fielded ahead of Hogg to score.
O’Leary added the extras to put them ahead by double scores going into the final quarter and while a draw would have been enough to secure a home semi-final for Glasgow, the champions could not break down the Connacht rearguard as Lam’s men held on for another epic victory in an unforgettable season.
Connacht scorers: Tries: B Aki, T O’Halloran
Conversions: AJ MacGinty, Shane O’Leary.Glasgow Warriors:Try: G Reid
Conversions: F Russell
Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran; Niyi Adeolokun, Robbie Henshaw, Bundee Aki (Peter Robb 74), Matt Healy; AJ MacGinty (Shane O’Leary 52), Kieran Marmion (John Cooney 66); Ronan Loughney (Dave Heffernan 56), Tom McCartney, Finlay Bealham (Rodney Ah You 2; JP Cooney 52); Ultan Dillane (Quinn Roux 73), Aly Muldowney; Sean O’Brien (Eoin McKeon 56), Jake Heenan, John Muldoon.
Glasgow: Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Alex Dunbar (Mark Bennett 13), Peter Horne, Lee Jones (Sean Lamont 55); Finn Russell, Ali Price; Gordon Reid (Jerry Yanuyanutawa 56); Fraser Brown (Pat MacAthur 56), Sila Puafisi; Leone Nakarawa (Swinson 78), Jonny Gray (Tim Swinson 27-24); Rob Harley (Zander Ferguson 55), Ryan Wilson (Simone Favaro 66), Josh Strauss.
Referee: Ian Davies (Wales).
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What a rematch that Semi-Final is going to be. The intensity of that game was bruising.
O’Hallorahan is so complete as a full back at such a young age. Fantastic in the air, has a great ability to read the game defensively and cover space and is also never shy about taking on men. Fully deserves his first cap during the summer tour
Yeah, Healy too. Plenty of lads out Wesht in with a sniff of a chance.
I’m afraid Healy may have done serious damage to his chances of playing International rugby. His tackling today was very weak and his lack of physicality will not impress Schmidt. I can’t understand how McKeon was not brought on earlier for Heenan. I was surprised to see him coming on for O’Brien who was having a stormer in marked contrast to Heenan. Overall Connacht continue to display great courage and team spirit.
Healy should be there for pure attack potential. It’s not like Zebo can tackle but he gets picked.
O’Brien gave away the two penalties that gave away the try. Think that was why he got taken off.
Biggest myth in Irish rugby.
That was for Old Gordon.
Healy and TOH were very poor in defence today. Aki was again phenomenal and Muldowney played well. It’d be great if Connacht went all the way.
I thought Dillane was immense. His power in the tackle forced Glasgow back so many times
Is he the son of Aidan O Halloran
My first Connacht game was v Ulster, Mike Gibson was playing for Ulster. My last Connacht game was v Munster Paul O’Connell was playing for Munster. So proud to be a Connacht man tonight in far away Thailand.
Are you happy in Thailand ?
The Glorious Connacht empire will extinguish all resistance. What a team they can interchange styles whenever needed. Well done to the other Irish provinces also good weekend.
great game connacht have matured into a great side this season. fantastic at the end killing the game
how can anyone criticise Healy and O’Hallorans defence connacht conceded one try to probably the best attacking team in pro 12 over last two years
Totally agree…!
Let’s be honest, connacht didnt play well at all today and STILL managed to get the win against the best team in the pro12. That’s a sign of how far they have come. A week off couldn’t have come at a better time, probably the biggest game in the sportsgrounds history coming up in two weeks!
Congratulations to Connacht. No more than they deserve for a terrific season.
Anyone know where to get tickets for semi final?
Through connachtrugby.ie on Wednesday
Fab result well fought to say the least. BOD wrong again…as he was for Conn v Mun. When will anyone other than Thornley….oh wait…he called for Munster too……Westerners so…..get just how good Connacht are?? Will it be the final??
People in general comment on various aspects of play which may have caught their attention. Offering platitudes in a general way is disingenuous and boring and hardly instigates a discussion. Some people have noticed recently that O’Halloran’s tackling has been weak. Today Healy’s tackling was particularly poor and indeed nowhere the standard required standard for International level. Most fans would love to see him scorching in for Irish tries but unless he fixes the flaws in his tackling he won’t get picked.
What planet are you on??
I’m on planet Earth but it seems some people are on Cloud Cuckoo Land regarding their opinion of Healy’s defence.