Big Creggs double win over Monivea

Connacht Junior 1 League
Creggs Rugby 18, Monivea RFC 8.

Two Brian Diffley tries helped Creggs to a convincing win over Monivea at The Green on Saturday night. The win means that Creggs not only leapfrog Monivea into second place behind Connemara in the Connacht J1 League, but the team also qualifies for the Cawley Cup Final against Castlebar on December 15, in Galway.
This was a hard attritional battle with Creggs losing four forwards to injury in the course of the game. Starting props Tom Fleming and Eoghan Farrell and back rows Kevin and Alan Brandon were forced to retire early but their replacements stepped up and ultimately triumphed against a much heavier Monivea pack.
Monivea dominated the opening exchanges although Creggs looked sharp on the counter attack, coming close to scoring before Monivea opened their account with a penalty after 18 minutes.
Mark Brandon squared the game with a penalty four minutes later and on the half hour Diffley showed great pace and awareness in charging down a kick on the Monivea line and beating the defence to the touch-down, leaving it 8-3 at the break.
Brandon stretched the Creggs lead with a penalty goal (11-3) five minutes into the second half and two minutes later Monivea missed a penalty in front of the posts.
That miss inspired Creggs and had the opposite effect on Monivea. Creggs controlled the remainder of the game, going close on a number of occasions before putting the issue beyond doubt 3 minutes from time when Diffley was carried over in a well organised maul and Brandon added the difficult conversion to leave a losing bonus point beyond Monivea’s reach.
They did manage a try 3 minutes into injury time when Creggs were reduced to 14 after a rather harsh sin-binning but it was too little too late.
This was an impressive performance with high marks earned right through the squad, and in addition to double try scorer Brian Diffley, there were two stand-outs, flanker Peter Lohan who was magnificent in defence and prop Aidan Leech contributed a number of big carries and capped that with two turn-overs, the second of which brought the proceedings to a close.
This Saturday Creggs are away to Westport in the Connacht League, kick-off 7.30 pm.
Creggs Rugby: Ronan Dowd, Eoghan Coyle, Tom Callaghan, James Brandon, Shane Dowd, Mark Brandon, Tom Fleming, Maurice Buckley, Eoghan Farrell, Brian Donoghue, Tom Oates, Brian Diffley, Peter Lohan, Kevin Brandon, Sean O’Higgins, Aidan Leech, Ronan Cahill, Aidan Brandon, and Kevin Gavin.

Senior Players – Training
Training continues on every Tuesday (8pm) and Friday (8.15pm) for all senior players. New and returning players always welcome. If you haven’t already paid, please pay your membership is now overdue.

CONNACHT JUNIOR 1 LEAGUE

POS	TEAM	PLD	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	BP	DED	PTS
1	Connemara	7	6	1	0	181	73	108	5	0	29
2	Creggs	6	5	1	0	108	50	58	3	0	23
3	Monivea	7	5	2	0	136	113	23	2	0	22
4	Castlebar RFC	7	2	5	0	115	146	-31	8	0	16
5	Westport	7	3	4	0	119	148	-29	2	0	14
6	Buccaneers	7	2	5	0	127	154	-27	5	0	13
7	Galwegians	6	3	3	0	133	206	-73	3	-3	12
8	Sligo	7	1	6	0	111	140	-29	4	0	8

Creggs Development Team have 2 League games in 6 days

Creggs Development team play Oughterard RFC away next Sunday at 2.30pm and six days later,
the team plays Corinthians RFC on Saturday night, December 8th. in Creggs.
Creggs Development are in joint-third place with Ballina with a game in hand on Ballyhaunis RFC three points in second place. They are joint-first with Corinthians RFC.
A special call to training on this Friday night at 8.15pm for all Development squad players to prepare for those two very important League games coming up. A special effort by all squad members to step-up if the team is to maintain and improve on the current second place in the Connacht J1C League.
New and returning players always welcome.

CONNACHT J1C LEAGUE

POS	TEAM	PLD	W	L	D	PF	PA	DIFF	BP	DED	PTS
1	Corinthians	5	4	1	0	161	105	56	3	-1	18
2	Ballyhaunis	6	4	2	0	102	76	26	2	0	18
3	Ballina	5	3	2	0	168	91	77	3	0	15
4	Creggs	5	3	2	0	100	134	-34	3	0	15
5	OLBC	6	2	4	0	141	165	-24	5	0	13
6	Portumna	5	2	3	0	110	131	-21	3	-1	10
7	Oughterard	6	1	5	0	104	184	-80	4	-1	7

Creggs RFC Over-35s recruiting for friendly games

Included in the first occasion will be a reunion for many of the Creggs 1992 Under 16-Cup winning team.
Some players are still involved in the club, while some others have stop playing and of course, others have moved away from the region.
Playing a couple of games is going to be a perfect opportunity for old friends to meet up and reminisce about the good old days on and off the field.
There is great work going on with the development of the latest generation new full-size 3G artificial pitch and two additional sand-based pitches plus other facilities that will be available for the future generations. It’s great for those that preceded the current teams and those coming through the ranks, to keep in contact and dust off the boots for an odd run-out.
If you’re interested in either playing or supporting the team on any occasions they are planning, please contact: Mattie Corcoran, Micheal Glennon or Sean Brandon – they would be delighted to see you in Creggs.

Creggs Under-18’s good away bonus point League win

Connacht Under-18.5 League

Oughterard 3, Creggs Rugby 50.

Creggs Under-18.5’s travelled out west to Oughterard last Sunday morning in the Connacht Under-18.5 A league and came away with a comprehensive victory on a scoreline of 50-3.
The first half was a very competitive affair and Creggs could consider themselves lucky to have gone in leading on a scoreline of 17-3 after tries from Aodha Hession, Conor Rohan and Mairtin Quinn and a conversion from Mark Purcell in the first half.
In The second half Creggs completely dominated the game with a very strong scrum and were excellent at the break down and they scored further tries from Jack Keegan (2), Tom Farrell, Kaylem Hollian and Jack Tucker with Mark Purcell converting 4 of the tries, to leave the final score 50-3.
Creggs Rugby: Ryan O’Keefe, Mairtin Quinn, Aaron Hannon, Mark Purcell, Kaylem Hollian, Tim Lambe, Aodha Hession, Thomas O Brien, Tom Farrell, Jack Tucker, Eoin McDonnell, Lorcan Maher, Jack Hanley, John McDonnell, John Martin, Conor Rohan, Conor Murphy, Ronan Lambe, Jack Keegan, Eric O Doherty

Next Game / Training
The next Connacht League game is currently down for Sunday, the 9th. of December v Corrib RFC at 12 Noon in Creggs. Corrib are their nearest challengers, eight points behind but with a game in hand, so this is an important game for the Creggs men.
Training continues on Friday night at 7pm in Creggs. New players alway welcome.

CONNACHT UNDER-18.5 DIVISION 1B

TEAM P W L D PF PA DIFF PTS

Creggs 7 7 0 0 228 58 170 28

Corrib 6 5 1 0 164 70   94 20

NUIG 7 3 3 1 168 184 -16 14

Creggs beat Castlebar in important League fixture

Connacht Under-16 League

Creggs RFC 22, Castlebar RFC 15.

On Saturday afternoon, Creggs Under-16s hosted Castlebar at The Green for a very entertaining match.
Creggs were by far the dominant side in the first half as tries from Mathew Ryan and and Jordan Kennedy helped the maroon men take the lead. David Gacquin also got his name on the score sheet and the left boot of Matthew Ryan added 2 more points to the Creggs lead straight after.
Castlebar came out with all guns blazing in the second half and managed to score 2 well-earned tries in a short space of time. However it wasn’t enough for the Mayo lads, as the Creggs defence stayed solid for the remainder of the match, coming away from the game victorious.
Creggs Rugby: Ruairi O’Brien, Michael Hoey, Luke Butt, Anthony Gorman, Jordan Kennedy, Tyrese Etete, Frankie Quinn, Shane Connaughton, Mark Dowd, Darren Gately, Matthew Ryan, Edimar Filho,
David Gacquin, Ciaran Purcell, Mark Kilcommons, Ruairi Tiernan, Luke Gregory, Sean O’Roarke, James Murray, Aodan Kelly and Evan Smyth.

Creggs Under-14’s lose out to Claremorris

Connacht Under-14 League

Claremorris RFC 19, Creggs RFC 7.

Creggs Under-14s we’re away to Claremorris last Saturday in Dunmore.

With a League Semi-Final place up for grabs, this was a very competitive match with Claremorris scoring very early in the first half.
Creggs were slow to get into the game and Claremorris scored a second try before Creggs got in gear.
Owen kelly got in under the posts after sustained pressure from the Creggs pack and Andy Quinn converted to leave the score 12 to 7 at the interval.
The second half was very evenly match with Claremorris scoring a try in the last play of the game after Creggs being reduced to 14 following a very harsh yellow card.
This team continues to improve and enjoy their rugby. Training continues Tuesday nights at 7pm and new players alway welcome.
Creggs Rugby: Brian Keegan, Ben Donellan, Ciaran O’Reilly, Sean Kelly, Stephen Smith James Davis, Nathan Halligan, Tommy Morris, Liam Og Corcoran, Maike Costa, Jack Donnelly, Jamie Betts, Sean Allen, Conor Kelly, Daniel Browne, Aindriú Oates, Andy Quinn, Kilan O’Brien, Adam Flynn, and Thomas King.

Youth Fixtures

YOUTH Team’s (Boys) Fixtures
Creggs Under-13’s will play Galwegians (Black) RFC in the Connacht Under-13A League in Creggs next Saturday at 2pm.
Creggs Under-15’s travel to play Galwegians RFC in the Connacht Under-15A League in Galway next Saturday at 1.30pm
Creggs U17’s are at home to Buccaneers RFC in a local derby – Connacht Under-18.5 League game next Sunday (December 2nd.) with a 12pm kick off in Creggs.
Always check CreggsRugby.ie for any late changes to the fixtures.

YOUTH Team’s (Boys) TRAINING
All Training in Creggs for:
Creggs Under-13’s and Under-14’s, on Tuesday night at 7pm.
Creggs Under-15’s train Thursday evening at 6.30pm.
Creggs Under-16’s on Tuesday night at 7pm.
Creggs Under-17’s and Under-18.5’s train Thursday night at 7.30pm.
Players new to rugby and returning players always welcome at all age groups.

YOUTH Team Registration/Membership continues at training
Registration/ Membership is now overdue for all Youth Teams. The opportunity to pay your membership will be at training and games during the next few days. All paid-up playing members will get a pair of the new designed Creggs RFC socks this Saturday at training this coming w

Youth Rugby – Girls

Creggs Under-14 Girls Training
Creggs Under-14 Girls will play Galwegians RFC in Galway next Saturday at 12pm
Creggs RFC relaunched girls rugby this season for Under-14’s and currently have over 23 girls playing and training every Monday night at that age group. So far the girls have had games versus Westport, Claremorris, Sligo and Ballina and are so far unbeaten.
Creggs Under-14 Girls train every Monday evening at 7pm. New players always welcome.

Under-16 Girls Team – New Players Very Welcome
The popularity of rugby is certainly spreading through the good work being done by CRDO Micheal Glennon in the local secondary schools, with Creggs currently having thirteen Under-16 players training every Monday night also.
New players at Under-16 (born 2003/2004) are very welcome to come out and give it a try every Monday night at 7pm in Creggs. Creggs will enter teams in the Cups at Under-14 and Under-16 levels after Christmas. For further details, please contact: Dave Purcell on 089 7000547.

MINI Rugby

All Mini teams train in Creggs this Saturday
This weekend, Creggs Minis – all ages (Under-6’s, Under-7’s, Under-8’s, Under-9’s, Under-10’s, Under-11’a and Under-12’s) will train in Creggs next Saturday at 11am.

Registration/ Membership is now overdue for all Mini Rugby players – if not already done, please avail of the opportunity to do so this Saturday at the clubhouse before or during training.

N.B. – All paid-up playing members will get a pair of the new designed Creggs RFC socks this Saturday at training..