Creggs – 12
Corrib – 11

Creggs shaded this bruising encounter with Corrib, a nerveless 50 meter penalty from replacement out-half Ger Heneghan sealing the deal with two minutes of play remaining. Before that the lead had pretty much changed hands with each score, Corrib first off the mark with a try from veteran flanker Martin Lee after 25 minutes. His full-back Evan Flynn was off target with the conversion but Creggs out-half Noel Flynn had earlier missed an easy penalty opportunity before converting his second attempt just before half time. Noel Flynn added a second within minutes of the re-start but the visitors re-gained the lead with an Evan Flynn strike on 17 minutes, at that stage the penalty count was running heavily against Creggs. Heneghan who had replaced Noel Flynn 10 minutes into the second half restored the Creggs lead with a penalty after 28 minutes but that was short lived as Creggs were penalised from the re-start affording Evan Flynn the opportunity to put his side 11-9 ahead as the game entered its final phase. A high tackle on full-back David Brandon then presented Heneghan with the opportunity to make his final decisive strike.

Creggs will hope this win proves a watershed in their efforts to move out of the relegation zone. Still struggling with injuries and unavailabilities the scratch pack performed well under the leadership of captain Tom Callaghan who followed up on his monumental performance against Castlebar the previous weekend with a destructive open side display which negatived Corrib’s early superiority in the set pieces, particularly the scrum. In these efforts he was well assisted by no. 8 Tom Fleming, blind side Matthew Brandon making his senior debut and Bernard Kilcommons returning to second row after a long injury lay-off. Of the backs, Chris Duignan ensured an uncomfortable afternoon for his opposing scrum-half Eugene Kenny, centres Peter Lohan and Kieran Ryan tackled like men possessed as did winger Damien Miskell and David Brandon counter-attacked to great effect. Ultimately however it fell to Heneghan to deliver the spoils and he duly obliged much to the relief of the home support. Creggs now head into two crucial games, away to Loughrea this Sunday and at home to Tuam the following weekend. That will complete the first round of fixtures in this year’s league.

Creggs : D Brandon, D Miskell, K Ryan, P Lohan, D Feeney, N Flynn, C Duignan, A Leetch, E Tully, K Rushe, B Donoghue, B Kilcommons, M Brandon, T Callaghan, T Fleming.

Replacements : M Corcoran, G Heneghan, C Cawley.