Connacht Junior 1 League: Creggs 18 Monivea 8. Two Brian Diffley tries helped Creggs to a convincing win over Monivea at The Green on Saturday night. The win means that Creggs not only leapfrog Monivea into second place behind Connemara in the Connacht J1 League, but also qualify for the Cawley Cup Final against Castlebar on December 15th in Galway.
Monivea dominated the opening exchanges although Creggs looked sharp on the counter attack, coming close to scoring before Monivea opened their account with a penalty after 18 minutes.
Mark Brandon squared the game with a penalty four minutes later and on the half hour Brian Diffley showed great pace and awareness in charging down a kick on the Monivea line and beating the defence to the touchdown, leaving it 8-3 at the break.
Brandon stretched the Creggs lead with a penalty (11-3) five minutes into the second half and two minutes later Monivea missed a penalty in front of the posts.
Creggs controlled the remainder of the game, going close on a number of occasions before putting the issue beyond doubt three minutes from time when Diffley was carried over in a well organised maul and Brandon added the difficult conversion to leave a losing bonus point beyond Monivea’s reach.
They did manage a try three minutes into injury-time when Creggs were reduced to 14 after a rather harsh sin-binning but it was too little too late.
This Saturday, Creggs are away to Westport in the Connacht League, kick-off 7.30 pm.
The Creggs Development team have two league games in the space of six days starting with Oughterard away on Sunday at 2.30 pm. They are then home to Corinthians the following Saturday (December 8th). They are currently joint-third with a game in hand.
Creggs Over-35s are currently recruiting for friendly games and a possible weekend tour. The first session will include a reunion for many of the 1992 Creggs U-16s side which won the cup.
While some of the players are still involved with the club, the friendly matches will provide the perfect opportunity for others to meet up and reminisce about the good old days on and off the field!
If you’re interested in either playing or supporting the team, please contact: Mattie Corcoran, Micheal Glennon or Sean Brandon – they would be delighted to see you in Creggs!
