Connacht Junior 1A League

Galwegians RFC 19, Creggs Rugby 34.

Creggs maintained their pursuit of leaders Connemara with this bonus point win over Galwegians in Galway on Sunday. This was however Creggs least convincing performance of the season and having bagged the bonus point with just over half an hour played, things began to unravel thereafter.

CONNACHT JUNIOR 1A LEAGUE TABLE

POS	TEAM	PLD	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	BP	DED	PTS
1	Connemara	11	10	1	0	327	105	222	9	0	49
2	Creggs	10	9	1	0	243	88	155	7	0	43
3	Buccaneers	11	4	7	0	219	234	-15	9	0	25
4	Westport	11	5	6	0	184	225	-41	4	0	24
5	Monivea	10	5	5	0	162	179	-17	3	0	23
6	Castlebar	11	3	8	0	162	261	-99	9	0	21
7	Sligo	10	3	7	0	173	191	-18	6	0	18
8	Galwegians	10	3	7	0	169	356	-187	3	-3	12

5 minutes into the game Creggs out-half Shane Dowd sliced through the home defence to touch down in the right corner. Then on the quarter hour mark a number of backs joined the maul for a pushover try grounded by Maurice Buckley in the opposite corner, 10-0.

Then on the half hour this was repeated with Buckley grabbing his second try and Creggs struck again to secured the bonus point from the re-start with the best score of the game when a deft backs move involving both Shane and Ronan Dowd, sending Chris Duignan over in the corner. None of these converted so at the break, the teams turned around with Creggs 20-0 ahead.

A small indicator of trouble up ahead came when Ronan Cahill, coming in for the injured Peter Lohan, was sin-binned within seconds of entering the fray.

So Creggs began the second half a man down but that did not slow their attacking game and within 5 minutes of the restart, extended their lead when Aidan Leech crossed for a try which Shane Dowd converted.

However, 3 minutes later Galwegians hit back with a converted try and Creggs then ran into further disciplinary problems, losing both Dowd brothers to the sin bin almost simultaneously.

Galwegians taking advantage of their numerical superiority, added a second unconverted try before Creggs hit back with a sixth try – the second for Duignan, capped by a magnificent conversion from Tom Flynn.

The game ended badly for Creggs with Shane Dowd sent off for a second yellow and Wegians crossed again for a second converted try before the final whistle sounded.

The teams meet again in Creggs this weekend and the Creggs management will be concerned at the fall off in performance as the game progressed, the indiscipline which cost four yellow cards and one red (with none picked up by Galwegians) and the penalty count was 18 to 8.

Most significantly the normally air-tight defence was at best passive and at worst very poor, seeing the concession of three soft tries to opponents who were prone to spilling the ball in contact.

Connemara beat Buccaneers narrowly on Sunday in a high scoring match which yielded their ninth bonus point of the season so Creggs must address all of these issues and cannot afford any lapse as the League plays out.

In the meantime, Creggs continue in Connacht J1 League action with their game in-hand against last Sundays opposition Galwegians again. This has been re-fixed from earlier in the season for Sunday next in Creggs at 2.30pm. If Creggs could repeat the victory from last Sunday with a bonus point, it would leave them just one point behind Connemara, an a big home tie to look forward to a week later. However, after the poor second-half last Sunday, there’s a lot to do in the coming days and there will be no complacency come Sunday.

Creggs Rugby: Ronan Dowd, Luke Meehan, Thomas Flynn, James Brandon, Chris Duignan, Mark Brandon, Shane Dowd, Sean Og Higgins, Maurice Buckley, Aidan Leech, Tom Oates, Brian Donoghue, Brian Diffley, Peter Lohan, Kevin Brandon (Capt), Brian Coady, Ronan Cahill, Michael Feeley. Andrew Callaghan, and Tom Callaghan.