No place like home as Corinthians get back to winning ways in AIL

Corinthians 30Midleton 6

Corinthians bounced back from successive defeats with a fine win against a dogged Midleton outfit on Saturday to keep themselves in touch at the top of the Division 2A table.

The visitors, playing against the elements, opened the scoring after 10 minutes when out-half Paul Daly landed a penalty after the Corinthisans pack was penalised for dragging down a maul.

Corinthians had started slowly, and it the game was 25 minutes old before they opened their account, out-half Mick O’Flynn landing a penalty after Midleton had gone offside. The visitors had a chance to restore their lead shortly after from another penalty, but Daly’s effort went just wide of the posts.

With both sides still sizing each other up, it was Corinthians who gained the upper hand and O’Flynn added another penalty after loose play by the Cork side, and they got in for their first try in the 35th minute.

A strong drive by the home pack saw hooker Kevin O’Byrne picking the ball and making good ground before releasing Finn Gormley, who in turn found full-back Darrin Classen coming on the blind to get in for a fine touchdown, and O’Flynn made it three kicks form three with the conversion to see Corinthians lead 13-3.

Corinthians almost got in for a second try just before the break, but O’Byrne was denied by a brilliant tackle by Midleton full-back Kieran Burns.

Referee Ken Henly-Wills called back play for an infringement by the visitors, and O’Flynn landed the penalty to see Corinthians take a 16-3 lead into the break.

The second half started brightly enough for the Munster outfit with their pack mauling well with second row Aidan McCarthy very much to the fore.

Corinthians conceded two penalties during this period, but Daly was only successful with one of the kicks.

Just when Midleton were getting a foothold in the contest, centre James Buckley – who has been in brilliant form in recent weeks– intercepted the ball inside his own 22 and then broke through all would be tacklers to race all the way up the pitch to score under the posts, with O’Flynn adding the routine conversion for a 23-6 lead.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.