Connaught Junior League Division 1B
Ballinasloe-16
Creggs -13
For the second week running Creggs lost out in the closing stages, Conor Loughrey’s injury time penalty snatching victory for the home side. To compound their misery Creggs were afforded a last ditch chance to level the match but Noel Flynn failed to land a difficult penalty with what proved the last kick of the game. This was rough justice for Creggs who had come blazing out of the traps and taken the fight to Ballinasloe from the kick-off. A bone crunching hit by Ray Cassidy on JJ Carey signalled Creggs intent and the physical intensity with which Creggs went about their business was typified by a marauding back row of Kevin Brandon, Kieran Ryan and Peter Lohan who stopped everything in its tracks including Ballinasloe’s huge number 8 Mark Harrigan, a man who has caused serious problems for Creggs in previous encounters. On this occasion Harrigan made little headway, cut off at the knees before he could build any momentum and as a consequence Ballinasloe were denied the platform on which to build their attacks. They were helped however by Creggs conceding the rugby equivalent of an own goal, failing to deal with an innocuous kick to their 10 metre line and then fumbling and foostering all the way back over their line with Ballinasloe centre Loughrey pouncing for a try on 10 minutes which he duly converted to leave his side 7-0 ahead against the run of play. Creggs regrouped after this setback and a series of forward drives with Paul McNeill, Alan Glennon and Larry Mannion prominent brought them to within inches of a try, they had however to settle for a penalty which Noel Flynn landed to reduce the deficit after 20 minutes. A Loughrey penalty almost immediately from the restart restored the margin but Flynn landed a second penalty 5 minutes later and after another series of attacks in which both Sean Quinn and Kevin Mulligan were held up on the line Bernard Kilcommons forced his way over on the stroke of half time for a try which Flynn converted to leave the visitors 13-10 ahead at the interval. It had been an absorbing first half and the tempo inevitably slackened in the second, as the game settled into a war of attrition in the third quarter which was played mainly between the 22 metre lines. Ominously however for Creggs Ballinasloe’s territorial graph looked better than theirs and Creggs relied mainly on some fine counterattacking from full back Barry Egan to bring them out of the danger zone. Ballinasloe laid siege to the Creggs line as the game entered its last quarter but the Creggs defence held. Ultimately Ballinasloe opted to kick a penalty goal to draw level as the game went into injury time and in injury time a soft penalty conceded by Creggs and then brought forward 10 metres handed Loughrey, scorer of all his side’s points the chance to clinch victory at the death. Another losing bonus point is all Creggs have to show for a worthy effort, this weekend there is no game which will allow some additional recovery time for a growing injury list with league leaders Castlebar next up on Saturday week.
Ballinasloe : M Tierney, R Ahern, K O’Neill, C Loughrey, C Johnston, F Sweeney, R Doolan, M Harrigan, A Doorley, R Wakefield, H Reynolds, K Dolan, T Dolan, A Wade, JJ Carey.
Creggs : B Egan, P Leetch, B Kilcommons, C Brandon, K Mulligan, S Quinn, N Flynn, K Brandon, P Lohan, C Ryan, R Cassidy, A Glennon, P McNeill, E Garvey, L Mannion.
Reserves : P Corcoran, S Blake, M McAteer.
Mini Rugby
Creggs Minis were cancelled last weekend due to a frozen pitch on Saturday morning.
We will welcome Ballinasloe RFC Under-8s, U-9s, U-10s, U-11s and U12’s to Creggs next Saturday. Al;l players for each team to meet in Creggs at 10.30am, with kick offs at 10.45am.
Connacht Under-14 League
Sligo RFC. 7 Creggs RFC. 35
Creggs U14’s travelled to Sligo on Sunday morning in an U14 league came and came away with the points in a 35-7 victory in a tougher game than the final scoreline suggests and remain unbeaten after four rounds of the league.
15 Points from the boot of Shane Purcell and one try from Niall Cunniffe 3 tries from James Brandon two of which came in the final 5 minutes sealed a hard fought win.
Creggs Travel away again next Sunday to Castlebar in round 5 of the league, time TBC
Creggs U-14 Squad: Michael Conroy, Aaron Glennon, Brian Maloney, David O Gorman, James Brandon, Eoghan Coyle, Ronan Dowd, Shane Purcell, Niall Cunniffe, Dylan Jordan, Padraic Gaffey, Cian Gately, Brandon Hanmore, Michael Brandon, Danny Arnold, Callum Fahey,Jason Hoare, Nathan Feeney, Adam Finnerty, Ryan Mannion
Under-16 do well in useful challenge match
After holding the Under-17 team to a draw last week, our Under-16s put in another great performance, particularly in the forwards against their older club mates on Sunday afternoon last.
In the second of two in-club friendly games, in preparation for upcoming Connacht League matches, the U-16 side went down by a narrow margin to the U-17 team.
Our Connacht Under-16 League season resumes on Friday night next under the lights in Creggs when we play Castlebar RFC. Full details on kick-off and meeting times at training on Wednesday night.
Under-17 defeat Under-16s in very good match
After being held to a draw last week v the Under-16 team, our Under-17s put in another very useful performance, particularly in the forwards against their younger club mates on Sunday afternoon last.
In the second of two in-club friendly games, in preparation for upcoming Connacht League matches, the U-17 side won by a one try margin over the U-16 team.
Great wins for St. Marys College, Ballygar and Roscommon CBS
Well done to St Marys Ballygar and to CBS Roscommon U14’s who both had very good wins this week. St Mary’s Ballygar beat HRC Mountbellew on Thursday 55-5 in the U14 league and CBS Roscommon travelled to Garbally College on Friday and beat a much bigger Garbally side by 25-10.
Schools Cups:
CBS in draw for Schools Senior Development Cup U19
For the first time ever Roscommon CBS will enter a team in the Schools Senior Development Cup U19 this year and the draw took place last Tuesday night in Claremorris. They were drawn in a group with Presentation Athenry, Athlone Community College and Athenry Vocational School. The first round of the cup takes place just before Christmas and good luck to CBS.
St. Marys College and Roscommon CBS in same Junior Cup group
The schools Junior Development cup draw also took place last Tuesday and the two local sides in the competition St Mary’s Ballygar and CBS Roscommon were drawn together in Group 1 of the competition with Athenry Vocational School and Davitt College from Castlebar. The first round of the cup takes place on the week of January 14th. We wish both sides the best of luck in the forthcoming competitions.
Note
Reminder to all: Connacht Rugby Roadshow in the Shearwater hotel Ballinsloe on Thursday Nov 29th at 8pm. Anyone who is invited/urged to attend. Please spread the word.
More Pic’s From last weekends game v Ballinsloe