Connaught Junior Cup
Second Round

Corinthians – 9
Creggs – 3

Odds-on favourites going into this postponed cup tie, Corinthians soon realised they were in for a battle royale. Perched at the top of division 1A since the start of the season and with home advantage there seemed little prospect of Creggs blocking their progress to the third round. Creggs however made a brave call in opting to play against the elements in appalling conditions and as the game entered its second quarter it remained scoreless. For 20 minutes played almost exclusively in the Creggs 22 Corinthians pounded their opponents line but could not crack a ferocious Creggs defence. Having failed to pick the lock the home side ultimately settled for a John O’Dwyer penalty to open the scoring on 20 minutes. Five minutes later O’Dwyer badly skewed a second penalty attempt but converted a third chance on the stroke of half time to leave his side with a perilous 6-0 lead at the interval.

Creggs outhalf Mark Brandon peppered the opposition with a variety of kicks following the re-start and the Corinthians back three were initially found wanting in dealing with these, affording Creggs a platform for two penalty attempts, the first missed by Brandon after 5 minutes, the second converted by him after 10 to leave his side nicely positioned at 6-3.

That was however as close as Creggs got, a significant feature of Corinthians victory was that the second half was not played exclusively in their territory and Creggs failed to establish sufficient field position to render further scores inevitable. In fact Creggs had no more shots at goal, the only penalties attempted in the second half were two further efforts from O’Dwyer, the first of which he converted after 15 minutes to leave Creggs in need of a converted try for victory. That never came, Corinthians made astute switches to sort out their back three and although the game ended with Creggs encamped on their opponents line a relieved Corinthians held out for the win.

Although they ultimately came up short this was a most encouraging performance from Creggs, all of the players involved deserve immense credit and there were two stand-outs, Tom Callaghan at centre and tight head Mike Tansey.

This weeks Creggs resume their league campaign and hope to consolidate their position with a win against Monivea in Monivea on Saturday.

Creggs : D Brandon, S Crehan, D Miskell, T Callaghan, F Kilcommons, M Brandon, A Callaghan, M Corcoran, E Garvey, M Tansey, T Fleming, T Nee, E Tully, P Lohan, K Brandon.

Subs used : K Ryan, S Quinn, M Fleming, A Leetch, E Naughton.