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Bank of Ireland Connacht Junior Cup Final
Creggs RFC 36
(Mikey Dunne, Brian Diffley, Mark Dowd, Mark Purcell, James Brandon (two) tries; Shane Purcell three conversions)
Dunmore RFC 21
(Jamie Bowens, Dean Slattery, Bradley Hughes tries; Conor Burns three cons)
Kevin Egan at Ballina RFC
Creggs’ 32-year wait for Connacht Junior Cup honours came to an end this afternoon in Ballina where they ran in six tries in a physical and fast-paced contest against Dunmore to put their name on the trophy for the seventh time in all, and the third time they completed the league and cup double in the same season.
With both sides entitled to feel cup final nerves for very different reasons – Creggs weighed down by the weight of expectation, while Dunmore were hoping to win a first ever Junior Cup in the 50th anniversary of the club’s foundation – but it was Creggs who handled those nerves that bit better in the opening half, when tries from Mikey Dunne, Brian Diffley and Mark Dowd established a commanding 17-0 lead.
Both sides were guilty of more than their usual amount of handling errors, in no small part because of the intense physicality of the tackling, which led to a series of early injuries. Creggs were quick to move the ball out to their slick back division, looking for players like Ronan and Shane Dowd, and the strong-running centre combination of Eoghan Coyle and Mark Purcell, to pick the lock of the Dunmore defence.
It was Mikey Dunne who collected Lee Kilcoyne’s excellent offload to open the scoring however, and Creggs didn’t have long to wait for Diffley to touch 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, while beside him, Ciarán Purcell was dominant in the lineout on both throws.
At 12-0, Dunmore were hanging on. A couple of close forward pass decisions were all that prevented Creggs from making another breakthrough but Mark Dowd wasn’t about to be denied when he picked off the base of a ruck and darted over from close-range just before the interval.
Dunmore were much improved in the second half, both as a result of strong contributions off the bench and a more simplified approach, where they were happy to run straight lines and work through the phases a bit more patiently.
Andrew Glynn’s tap and go penalty set up their first try from Jamie Bowens while yet again it was their trust in close range forward power that yielded a second for Dean Slattery under the posts, but crucially, Creggs were able to dial up a response each time.
Brothers Shane and Mark Purcell connected for the first where a combination of Mark Dowd’s quick change of a direction from a tap and go penalty and Mark’s angled run to wrong-foot the defence and crash over were the key ingredients.
In the latter stages however, it was team captain James Brandon who came to the fore, running in two excellent scores to crown a superb all-round display that was impressive in defence and attack.
With play getting disjointed, Gert Jacobus Coetzee and Eoin Reddington’s pace and power down the left touchline was crowned with Bradley Hughes crossing the whitewash for the final score of the game, albeit far too late to trouble a Creggs team that were standing on the cusp of another famous chapter in their storied history.
CREGGS RFC: Shane Dowd; Mikey Dunne, Mark Purcell, Eoghan Coyle, Ronan Dowd; Shane Purcell, Mark Dowd; Tom Farrell, Nato Kiripati, Eoghan Cahill; Ciarán Purcell, Xavier Woodhouse Tavai; Lee Kilcoyne, James Brandon, Brian Diffley.
Replacements: Darren Gately for Dunne (19), Mattie Curley for Farrell (51), Ronan Cahill for E Cahill (51), Chris Duignan for R Dowd (59), Danny Arnold for Kiripati (60), Cormac Dolan for M Dowd (60), R Dowd for Coyle (75), E Cahill for J Brandon (75)
DUNMORE RFC: Jamie Coen; Eoin Reddington, Bradley Hughes, Conor Burns, Dylan Brady; Brendan Carr, Colin Lyons; Andrew Glynn, Jamie Geraghty, Ronan Mullins; Martin Cummins, Andrew Doherty; Austin Brummer, Evan Groenwald, Jamie Bowens.
Replacements: Dean Slattery for Doherty (6), Dieter Crafford for Burns (16), Burns for Brady (25), Stephen O’Toole for Geraghty (35), Christopher Donlon for Glynn (47), Doherty for Mullin (49), Gert Jacobus Coetzee for Carr (56),
Referee: Michael Honan.
