Corinthians 40 Skerries 3
WITH the Energia League hitting an important phase coming into the Christmas break, Galway Corinthians maintained their excellent run of form on Saturday afternoon with a comprehensive win over Skerries at Holmpatrick. Six tries were the order of the day for a side who are still second in the Division but who are breathing down the neck of leaders Instonians who beat Dungannon 35-7.
Corinthians have three games left in this half of the season, away to Dungannon and Sligo and home to Rainey Old Boys on the 9th of December and the coaching staff will no doubt use the coming weekend off to work on plans for those games. Instonians for the record will play Malahide and Belfast Harlequins at home with a trip to Dolphin their only away game coming up to Christmas.
Not that any of that will bother Corinthians too much. Their performance on Saturday was workmanlike from the start with the emphasis on getting the job done against a side who have struggled this season. Team Captain Mark Boyle has been one of the stars of the season so far and he opened the scoring with a fine try that was manufactured by the pack following a line out. A driving maul and quick ball set up John Devine who was stopped inches short but there was no stopping Boyle to finish the move and crash over.
That set the tone and Corinthians were rarely troubled from that moment. With Sean Naughton kicking for fun, Corinthians were leading by seven and with a solitary penalty from Mulcahy in response, were soon back over the line for try number two. Again, the pack was to the fore and Ruan Janse van Rensburg was at hand to touch down following some patient play neat the Skerries line.
Corinthians would lead 21-3 at the break. The third try went through the hands of Matthew Devine who was the conductor in chief and was finished by the talented scrum half who broke through the cover while their opponents were screaming for a knock on that was not there. Naughton’s conversion gave Corinthians the eighteen point lead at halftime.
The second 40 minutes would be a repeat of the first with three more tries for the visitors. Eoin de Buitléar would get in for two of those. Both came following brilliant driving mauls that decimated the Skerries defense and de Buitléar touched down.
There would be one other try and it came in the middle of de Buitléar’s double. Skerries attempted a move outside the Corinthians 22’ only for Adam Nash to intercept and he ran nearly the length of the field before passing to Naughton to score.
This was impressive without being flashy and Corinthians head coach Michael Harding will be delighted with the style of play. What lies ahead are now three games that come the evening of the 16th of December when Corinthians play Sligo, will lay out clearly where they lie in the battle for promotion to Division 2A.
Corinthians: S Fox, F MacCearra, T Waters, J Devine, F McNulty, S Naughton, M Devine. P Fahy, E de Buitléar, F Barrett, R Glynn, R Janse van Rensburg, M Holmes, M Flynn, M Boyle (Capt ).
Replacements: A Nash, R Dufficy, M Garcia, J Tierney, H Rogers.
Skerries: R Mulcahy, D Lowndes, R Dempsey, M Sherlock, K McGrath (Capt ), P O’Loghlen, J Healy. T Scuffil, K Leonard, T O’Donovan, P Fay Watt, R Halligan, P Finn, D McEneaney, B McKiernan
