Loughrea – 11
Creggs – 0
With the final round of league games scheduled for this weekend Creggs are still in mathematical danger following this defeat at the hands of Loughrea on Sunday. Creggs problems began before the kick off with a number of last minutes defections leaving a totally untested back division taking the field, or rather the bog which Loughrea’s pitch more closely resembles at this stage of the season.
Creggs failed to adapt to conditions under foot and from the outset the home side had a palpable advantage in the scrum, shunting Creggs off their first put in, a feat repeated throughout the first half when Creggs failed to register on the score line notwithstanding a strong wind advantage.
Creggs seemed to be getting their body positions all wrong both in set pieces and general play, coming in far too high and being constantly driven back by a home team hitting lower and harder than their opponents. This ultimately translated into the only score of the first half, a pushover try after 12 minutes which Dan Murray failed to convert. Thereafter Creggs had 2 penalty chances which went abegging and by the turnaround found themselves in serious trouble, having lost flanker Eoin Kelly, prop Mike Tansey, fullback Stephen Kilcommons and centre Damien Miskell to injury. At least two of these were directly attributable to the conditions and matters were not helped by a hands off referee, whose failure to intervene in the face of an outrageous lineout infraction by the home side resulted in a touchline free for all shortly before half time.
Facing into the elements in the second half and further depleted from injuries Creggs battled manfully but inevitably Loughrea added further points, 2 penalties from Murray and should have added a second try on the stroke of full time as left winger Eoin Morrissey spilled the ball with the line at his mercy.
Creggs can take few positives from this outing, yet again Kevin Brandon and Peter Lohan performed heroically but with a mounting injury list heading into the final weekend against bottom placed Corrib, Creggs will be anxious to secure their own salvation rather than relying on results elsewhere to maintain their league status.
Creggs : A Leetch, E Garvey, M Tansey, T Fleming, T Nee, E Kelly, P Lohan, K Brandon, M Brandon, P Leetch, D Feeney, D Miskell, E Tully, S Crehan, S Kilcommons.
Replacements : E O’Rourke, L Nally, P Corcoran, K Raftery, D Nee.