
Corinthians RFC 17 Creggs RFC 12
Creggs U14’s put in a brilliant performance last Sunday afternoon just coming up short against the team that recently beat them in the league final on a scoreline of 17-12. The Creggs lads battled very bravely against their bigger opponents and this game really came down to a bounce of the ball which went the way of the home side.
Creggs defended very well throughout the game and Daniel Flynn, Edimar Fimho and Ciaran Purcell in the back row especially put in storming performances , time after time chopping their opponents and stopping their progress but it was Corinthians who took an early lead when they made a break in the centre and scored under the posts for a 7-0 lead bt it was Creggs who played the better rugby after that score with Ben Johnson, Michael Mcateer, Lee Kilcoyne and Tomas Tiernan carrying very well up front and the backs moving the ball well through Cormac Dolan, Oisin O Beirne, Aodhan looby and Tadg Lyons and when Corinthians were penalised at the breakdown after 15 minutes a quickly taken penalty from Ciaran Purcell saw him carry the ball into the 22″ and he fed DJ Hession, who released Jack Fleming who drew the final man to send in Ryan Conlon for the score.
In the second half Corinthians regained the upper hand with an early try when their bigger forwards picked and drove and although the Creggs boys stopped them on numerous occasions eventually they got over to leave the score 12-5. The Creggs boys again showed their great character and were now taking on their opponents upfront and releasing their fast backs but some good defending by the Corinthians back 3 kept the Creggs boys out but Creggs did get in for a score after 18 minutes when a fine individual effort from Ciaran Purcell who intercepted a pass from the 9 to 10 at the back of the line out on the 10 metre line and although two Corinthians backs tackled him, he kept on his feet and broke the tackles to go over for a try which Ryan Conlon expertly converted to leave the scores tied at 12-12.
A draw looked likely at this stage but Corinthians regained the ball and went on the attack, Creggs twice turned the ball over but will rue the fact that their kicks did not find touch twice and the ball bounced kindly for the Corinthians attacker to go in unopposed for a score with 2 minutes left. The Creggs boys never say die attitude showed again however when they regained the ball and moved it wide only for Tadg Lyons to get tackled into touch just 2 metres from the line with the last play of the game. Hard luck lads, we have a tour to Wales to look forward to at the start of April but a truly great performance Sunday and you didn’t get what you deserved on the day.