Creggs RFC 36

Dunmore RFC 21

By Kevin Egan at Ballina RFC

THEY travelled in their masses from the Galway-Roscommon border village to see Creggs rugby club attempt a remarkable ‘David and Goliath’ double in the Connacht Junior Cup and Plate final.

A late try from Simon Staunton denied the Creggs seconds a memorable upset win against J1A top four side Castlebar in the Junior Plate, but there is no disputing which club is the Goliath of the Connacht junior rugby scene after the club’s flagship team ran in six tries to overwhelm Dunmore, a result which completes a famous league and cup double.

This Saturday, Creggs will take on Bective in an AIL playoff that would leave them just 80 minutes from a return to senior rugby, and they will make the trip to Cill Dara in high spirits after they put their 32-year Junior Cup hoodoo to rest.

Coming into the game, that long drought, coupled with the memory of a failure to perform as favourites in this fixture three years ago against Westport, was arguably the most dangerous weapon in Dunmore’s arsenal.

The longer the contest went on without a score, the more the mental pressure might build up on the recently crowned league winners, opening the door for the underdogs to give themselves something very special to celebrate in their 50th year of existence.

Instead the first half was all Creggs, with tries from Mikey Dunne, Brian Diffley and Mark Dowd establishing a 17-0 interval lead that was never going to be reeled in.

With bright and warm conditions bathing the pristine 4G surface in Ballina, it was no surprise that Creggs were keen to play to their strengths early, working the ball out to their backs in a bid to ‘slice and dice’ their western neighbours.

The power and speed of Eoghan Coyle and Mark Purcell in the centre certainly helped to create good openings through the phases and there was no denying the speed and handling of their back three, Dowd brothers, Shane and Ronan, as well as Dunne and Darren Gately, who was brought on to replace the injured Mikey Dunne midway through the first half.

But that wasn’t the only injury in an abrasive contest, and the stop-start nature of the play didn’t help continuity, while a couple of last-ditch handling errors at key times also prevented Creggs from running in flamboyant scores.

But when they didn’t overplay it, Creggs were sharp, and always capable of creating front foot ball. Dunne collected Lee Kilcoyne’s excellent offload to open the scoring and shortly afterwards former Connacht and UG player Brian Diffley touched down the second, taking advantage of good play from Ronan Dowd and Coyle in the build-up.

It wasn’t just in the double digit jerseys where Creggs showed their quality however. Kiwi import Xavier Woodhouse Tavai showed pace and hands not usually found in a second row with some excellent plays, not least a flamboyant pass through the legs that opened up a superb attack from Shane and Ronan Dowd, while beside him, Ciarán Purcell was dominant in the lineout on both throws.

At 12-0, Dunmore were hanging on, with their tight five working incredibly hard to try and generate some territory. Andrew Glynn and Ronan Mullins made some strong carries but even so, a couple of close forward pass decisions were all that prevented Creggs from making another breakthrough.

Pictured: Creggs centre Eoghan Coyle is about to be tackled by Dunmore’s Brendan Carr and Evan Groenwald during the Connacht Junior Cup Final in Ballina on Sunday. Photos: Iain McDonald.