'Wegians left feeling Blue as old rivals retain Cup
Date Published: {J}
After extra time
Corinthians retained the Connacht Senior Cup in the most dramatic fashion when they denied city rivals Galwegians in the dying minutes of extra time in a thrilling Cup final in Glenina on Saturday.
This game was switched to Glenina after the Sportsground was unavailable, but it was the visitors who made the more enterprising start. Having missed an early penalty opportunity, the Cloonacauneen outfit did manage to open the scoring in the eight minute when a forward drive resulted in a try for lock forward Gary Ward, which was converted by Shane Mullaly for a 7-0 lead.
The hosts responded well, and on 15 minutes they opened their account with a Rob O’Beirn penalty from in front of the posts after the visiting midfield drifted offside under pressure close to their line.
At the end of the first quarter Wegians took the lead with their opening try, when captain and winger John Cleary finished a set-piece move in trademark fashion by cutting through the midfield at pace for a excellent score. O’Beirn converted for a 10-7 lead, but it was short-lived as Corinthians levelled matters with a penalty soon afterwards from Mullaly.
’Wegians dominated the second quarter and they deservedly went back in front on the half-hour. It resulted from a late tackle on Cleary following a clever chip ahead, and from the resulting five metre penalty scrum, a powerful surge by the home pack gave number 8 Eoin McKeon the simple task of grounding the ball over the line.
O’Beirn was wide with the difficult conversion, but he ought to have extended the lead to eight points just before the break when he missed an easier chance close in after Corinthians out-half Mullally was sin-binned after persistent infringing by the visiting defence.
Trailing 15-10 at the break, the Cloonacauneen men missed a great chance to reduce arrears in the opening minute of the second half when a penalty in front of the posts sailed wide. However the visitors dominated the third quarter, and eventually they made that pressure pay on the hour mark when sub Mick O’Flynn landed a penalty from close-range after Wegians’ winger Brian Murphy was yellow carded.The game was now delicately poised at 15-13 in favour of ’Wegians, but with the visitors piling on the pressure, ’Wegians substitute back-row Liam Casserly became the second Wegian to see yellow from referee Dave Connolly in the 75th minute.
This gave the visitors the chance to regain the lead with another close-in penalty, but it came about in the most unlikely fashion. When O’Flynn’s effort rebounded off the post, the out-half was first to react and reclaim the ball, and a swift pass wide to Cian Begley allowed the centre dive over in the corner for an extremely fortunate but opportunist try.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.