Galwegians RFC 10 Creggs RFC 17
Creggs U16’s gained some revenge for their recent Connacht League Final defeat to Galwegians RFC by defeating the same opposition in the semi Final of the Connacht Cup last Thursday evening in Galway.
Played in perfect conditions this game was always going to be a tough battle and so it proved with Creggs only gaining the advantage in the last 10 minutes. Creggs began the game at lightening pace and scored after only 5 minutes after a 5 metre scrum, James Brandon picked and dived over to give Creggs the lead. Galwegians then started to have the better of territory and were putting pressure on the Creggs defence and reduced the deficit from a penalty from James Butler after 15 minutes. Both teams were intent on attacking out wide and Creggs were having some success in midfield and were unfortunate on a couple of occasions when good work from Shane Purcell and Jason Hoare released Niall Cunniffe and he fed Cian Gately who was held out on a couple of occasions. Galwegians then got a slice of fortune when a kick from full back Jonathan Joyce took a wicket bounce on the hard ground and bounced into winger Conor o Regan’s arms who ran in unopposed under the posts which was converted again by James Butler giving Galwegians a 10-5 half time lead.
Creggs upped the intensity in the second half and were creating much faster ruck ball and Daire Byrne, Melvin Conteh and Rian Biesty were constantly breaking the gain line which was causing problems for Galwegians. Creggs were awarded a couple of penalties in midfield and when the kicked to the corners they mauled impressively before breaking away and Melvin Conteh dived over to level the scores at 10-10 with 15 minutes remaining. David O Gorman and Danny Arnold were doing well on set pieces and creating much more ball now for Creggs to work with and it proved important as Creggs again attacked and good work again by James Brandon and Ian Conlon saw Rian Biesty take on the ball and beat the defender and although he looked like he was going to be held up short he managed to dive over for the try which Ronan Dowd converted stretching the lead to 17-10 to Creggs.
Galwegians now knew with 10 minutes left that they had to score to stay in the competition and went on the attack and on a couple of occasions when they looked to have the Creggs defence stretched super tackles from Brian Maloney and Adam Canny kept them out and Creggs held on for the win.
Creggs U16’s will contest the U16 Cup final next Sunday in the Sportsground in Galway at 1pm. All support would be welcome