Creggs staged a dramatic comeback to defeat old rivals Ballina in an exhilarating Connacht Junior 1A league semi-final at the aptly named Creggs Road in Ballina on Sunday. The early exchanges were evenly contested with both teams battling hard for supremacy. Creggs gradually began to dominate territorially and went ahead when winger Chris Duignan finished off with a fine try. A penalty by Ronan Dowd edged Creggs 8-nil ahead just before halftime. Some top-class defensive work by the entire Creggs team with Captain James Brandon, Eoghan Coyle, Xavier Tavai and Brian Diffley to the fore. However from the restart Ballina’s intensity moved up a notch and they hit back in the 45th minute with a fine try out wide by Liam Jones which was converted by Craig McCormack to reduce the deficit to a single point. A period of stalemate ensued with tigerish tackling limiting scoring opportunities as both sets of forwards enjoyed periods of dominance during the third quarter. Creggs passed up a kickable penalty for a 5 metre lineout which yielded nothing before Ballina centre Daniel Feeney almost broke clear for a try but excellent defensive work by Ronan Dowd and Dean O’Reilly averted the danger. Heading into the final quarter Creggs were still hanging on to their slender lead but Ballina hit the front for the first time in the 66th minute when second row Thomas Hennigan powered over for a vital try which McCormack converted to leave Ballina ahead 14 – 8. With players visibly tiring Creggs utilised their bench to good effect to generate fresh momentum in the closing stages but Ballina repelled every attack by the League champions with grim determination. With the clock heading into injury time Creggs mounted attack after attack in a desperate effort to retrieve the game and scored an amazing try by Dean O’Reilly, who outpaced the defence to touch down for a brilliant team try. Ronan Dowd was the calmest man on the pitch as he slotted a magnificent conversion from the left wing to win the game for Creggs and set up an eagerly anticipated League final against Dunmore at the Dexcom Stadium on Sunday March 15th.