Connacht Junior Cup
Creggs 1st XV 36 – – Dunmore RFC 21
After 32 years the monkey has been removed from the back of Creggs RFC. In Ballina on Sunday a highly motivated and coached side collected the Connacht Junior Cup in spectacular fashion.
A 3:30pm kick off in front of a large crowd had Creggs on the scoreboard after just three minutes. Creggs were manic and attacked from everywhere with Mikey Dunne scoring a try in the right corner. Within another 7 minutes Creggs went on the opposite wind where Brian Diffley got his try and Shane Purcell scoring the conversion off the touchline to go 12-0 ahead.
Dunmore tried their best but were unable to stick with the pace of Creggs fouling players in the process. A yellow card for Dunmore before Diffley’s try helped Creggs attack leaving extra space. Having only entered the Creggs 22 on 2 occasions in the first half without a score Creggs pushed ahead and may have scored another number of tries but handling errors stopped the scoring at source. On the stoke of half time Mark Dowd sniped a try near the right wing to push Creggs 17 – 0 clear.
Dunmore got back into the game early in the 2nd half scoring 7 under the posts but were dominated by both forwards and backs breaking the gain line. Tavai and Coyle both made huge carries and Dunmore were penalised 15 meters from their goal line. A move off the training ground saw ball spun in scissor moves and dummy runners leaving Mark Purcell to crash over for Creggs 4th try converted by his brother Shane putting Creggs 24-7 up. Again within minutes Tavai broke through with the pack and Cormac Dolan nailed his pass to team Captain James Brandon to score the 5th try going 29-7 ahead. On 68 minutes Dunmore got in under the posts for anther 7. This had no affect on Creggs who again marched up the park where James Brandon got his 2nd try making a break through from 20 yards out. Purcell slotted 2 more to push Creggs 36 -14 with only minutes to go. On 78 minutes Dunmore got their 3rd try bring their total up to the final score of 36 -21.
Congrats from a proud club to the players and management to collect the triple of Cawley Cup, J1A league and Connacht Junior Cup in our 50th yr
Team photo and presentation photos compliments of Steve Fahey Foxshots77
