Corinthians ended their Bank of Ireland Connacht Senior League campaign with a 15-point win, 34-19, over city rivals Galwegians in Corinthian Park on Friday night.
Despite missing several regular starters, both sides enjoyed valuable preparation ahead of the start of the Energia League in two weeks when Corinthians host Wanderers in Division 2B, while Galwegians face a trip to Tullamore in Division 2C.
The local derby was preceded by a minute's silence for the late Mick “Berso” Berry, a highly respected club man who served as president of Corinthians in 2011.
On the field Galwegians were under pressure when McColgan was yellow carded after just three minutes for a high tackle, and Corinthians made hay with Max Holmes scoring from a driving maul. However, six minutes later, Galwegians responded in similar fashion with Nicky Lawless using his power to score.
Corinthians regained the lead when Peter Rainsford showed a clean pair of heels to skip past two tackles and dive in the corner, but again Galwegians responded when from a line-out Hugo Gens linked with Liam Angermann who went over, with Tiarnan Neville added the extras.
In a nip and tuck game, the home side added a third try following a scrum outside the Wegians’ 22 when good handling saw Rory McClean cross the whitewash, but after the half-time break Galwegians hit back again. This time Jack Winters got on the end of a lineout turnover which earned a penalty, and the team captain used his power to get through the cover with Neville converting.
However, it was the last time Wegians led the game as Corinthians went up a gear scoring three unanswered tries through Peter Rainsford, Rory McCleanfand Gareth Kilkelly, while Jack Conway kicking two conversions.
Corinthians: F MacCearra, R McClean, C Grant, L Carpenter, F McNulty, J Conway, J Tierney. P Fahy, M Holmes, R Dufficy, R Glynn, G Kilkelly, G Murray, P Flannery, M Boyle (C ). Replacements: C Leonard, A Burke, M Garcia, MJ Gavin, P Rainsford, H Sheridan.
Galwegians : P Nash, J Munn, R Deacy, J Kennedy, B Walsh, T Neville, A Sherlock, J Winters (C ), N Lawless, M McColgan, E Tarmey, M McLoughlin, H Gens, J Va’asuaga, L Angerman. Replacements: G Ukwuoma, J Haugh, O Halpin, J Quinn, J Deacy, E Brady.
Referee: Nathan Kearns
