Cawley Cup – Round 3.
Monivea RFC 10, Creggs RFC 29.
Creggs maintained their 100 per cent success with their third win from three in the Cawley Cup. It points were hard-earned win over the Galway side at their Castle Grounds, in Monivea on Sunday.
However, the contest was much closer than the final scoreline would suggest with Brian Diffley and Tom Fleming scoring late tries as Creggs pulled away in the last ten minutes.
Depending on restrictions, Creggs are down next to face local rivals Dunmore on a Saturday night (October 24th.) in the final group game. Creggs will be hoping to preserve their 100 per cent record in order to secure a home semi-final draw.
Creggs got off to a good start when Brian Donohoe availed on an error in the Monivea line-out to touch down for an opportunist try after just 3 minutes of play.
However, Monivea hit back with a penalty before carving the Creggs midfield defence open with an excellent try under the posts. The straightforward conversion putting the home team ahead by 10-5.
Creggs responded with an impressive period of forward control which ultimately yielded a fine try to prop-forward Jack Tucker when he crashed over for a well-worked score. Shortly afterwards both teams were rather harshly reduced to 14 players following a brief skirmish as tempers frayed.
The teams were level 10-10 at halftime, but Creggs dominated the opening stages of the second half and were rewarded when full-back Shane Dowd scored Creggs third try, impressively finishing off a sweeping move by the backline.
Monivea conceded a lot of penalties in the build-up to this try, and eventually the referee’s patience ran out by issuing two yellow cards in quick succession to the home team.
Team captain, Brian Diffley’s 70th minute try, converted by Shane Purcell, came following a series of scrums and line-outs close to the Monivea line.
Tom Fleming’s powerful 20 metre run saw him cross for Creggs fifth try shortly afterwards, with Purcell again adding the conversion.
Creggs Rugby: Shane Dowd, Mikey Dunne, James Brandon, Mark Purcell, Eoghan Coyle, Shane Purcell, Aodha Hession, Aidan Leech, Danny Arnold, Jack Tucker, Tom Oates, Tom Fleming, Tom Farrell, Brian Donohoe, Brian Diffley, Sean Higgins, Eoghan Farrell, Ronan Cahill, Ronan Dowd, and Brian Cleary.
The First and Development squads had no games scheduled for next weekend.
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