Connaught Junior League
Division 1B
Creggs, Saturday 13 October 2012

Buccaneers – 27
Creggs – 13

Creggs suffered a setback in their Junior League campaign, losing to Buccaneers in Dubarry Park on Saturday night. Having taken 9 points from their three opening games Creggs were hoping to build on that against their old rivals but came away empty handed. The opening period went well for Creggs, 6-0 ahead after 20 minutes from two Noel Flynn penalties and they should have been 9 to the good as between landing his first and third penalties Flynn missed the easiest of the three chances presented to him. The second quarter saw Buccaneers move up a gear and from then on Creggs were very much second best in the forward exchanges. On the half hour mark sustained pressure from the home pack yielded a try for Declan Byrne in the left hand corner, full-back Gerard Fallon landing a difficult conversion. Byrne added a penalty just before half time to leave his side 10-6 ahead at the interval. Early in the second half the lead changed again as Ja Hughes a first half replacement for the injured Trevor Nee shredded the home defence for a fine individual try well converted by Flynn. From thereon however it was downhill all the way for Creggs, not helped when replacement prop Mike McAteer was sinbinned within minutes of his entry to the fray. Already under pressure Creggs needed all hands on deck and with 14 men struggled badly in the tight ultimately conceding 10 points during this period from a converted Darragh Lennon try and before that Fallon had landed an equalising penalty. At 20-13 Creggs were still good for a losing bonus point but even that was denied them as Buccs added a third try from a rolling maul, again converted by Fallon on the stroke of full time. This Sunday Creggs play Dunmore in Creggs, kick-off 3 pm – this is a vital game for Creggs as last year they were comprehensively beaten by Dunmore in the Junior Cup and the visitors are now second in the league with 13 points from 4 games played.

Buccaneers : G Fallon, C Greene, J Maguire, G Walsh, D Byrne, J Keegan, D Griffith, R Walsh, R Reid, D Egan, J Tormey, R Madigan, D Lennon, D Burns, M Staunton.

Creggs : D. Brandon, E Gilleran, C Ryan, B Kilcommons, E Egan, N Flynn, P Lohan, K Brandon, T Callaghan, T Nee, R Cassidy, P Coffey, P McNeill, L Mannion, M Corcoran.

Replacements : M McAteer, J Hughes, S Blake.