Tuam 2nds 15 Creggs 2nds 8

Tuam advanced to the quarterfinal of the Ard na Cregg Cup with a hard- fought victory over Creggs on Sunday. Tuam dominated the early exchanges but dogged defence held them out until winger Keith Fleming crossed for a try in the 25th minute . Tuam went further ahead shortly after halftime with a well struck penalty kick by Peter Totten. Creggs began to dominate territorially but were caught by a sucker -punch when Tuam forward Emmet Rock broke from deep to cross for a fine individual try under the posts . The easy conversion left Creggs trailing by 15-0,but they quickly regrouped and put Tuam on the back-foot. With less than 10 minutes remaining, Ronan Cahill burst through for a try to give Creggs renewed hope .The impressive Cahill then proceeded to land a massive penalty kick from way out on the wing to reduce the deficit to 15 – 8 . With time running out Creggs ran the ball at every opportunity and were very unlucky when winger Dara Thomas got in for a try in the right corner only to have the score harshly ruled out for a forward pass. Creggs battled right to the end under Enda Tully’s captaincy. The front row of Tully,Eoghan Cahill and Ken Loughrey enjoyed a tough battle with their opponents,while Damien Nolan and Declan Nee worked hard in the second row . The backrow unit of Graham Curran ,Mark Hester and Ronan Cahill were strong at the breakdown and tackled hard around the fringes .Scrumhalf Stephen Crehan combined well with Dylan Keaveney ,who tested the Tuam defence with some probing kicks . David Feeney and Tommy Devine were strong and committed in the centre while Philip Leech and Damien Miskell impressed on the wings with Thomas Greene very solid at fullback,while replacement winger Dara Thomas almost saved the day for Creggs .