Corinthians have a real opportunity to keep pace with the division 3 league leaders when they travel to Leixlip to face Barnhall in Saturday’s AIB League encounter.
Corinthians are currently enjoying a rich vein of form, having notched four wins from five outings, and the result is a top three position in the table. They are just a point behind league leaders Portadown, and level on points with second-placed Midleton, with points difference separating the two.
To maintain this push a win over Barnhall is a must, and with the Co Kildare side currently occupying 15th place with just one win in the league, Corinthians must view this as a vital away game to target.
Connemara sit in ninth place, but are one of six teams who have bagged three wins from their five games to date, but they will face a tough task if they are to overcome Midleton. The Cork side, with 134 points scored, have the second-best scoring record in the division, and Corinthians will be hoping Connemara do them a favour when they host Midleton at Monastery Road.
Last weekend Corinthians had to work hard to get the upper hand over a resilient Sunday’s Well side before prevailing by 18 - 14 with a try at the death.
The home side, from their first incursion into Sunday’s Well’s 22, secured a penalty which Connacht’s Tim Donnelly struck to go in front.
However too many loose passes, coupled with some good work from Sunday’s Well scrumhalf Karl Rothwell, gave their opponents the opportunity to level after 15 minutes.
Corinthians upped the pressure with good running by centres Cian Begley and Wayne Williams, but had a final pass was intercepted on the visitors’ line by winger Ian O’Regan who ran the length of the pitch to score a fine try in the corner, leaving the score 3-8 for Sunday’s Well. Corinthians then gave away another penalty which Chris Burnett duly converted, but they answered with a somewhat fortuitous try from centre Cian Begley after his opposite number knocked on.
With half time approaching Corinthians conceded another penalty to ensure the visitors went in at the break 14 - 8 ahead.
The second half was a dour affair with both sides kicking high balls, but with good fielding by Corinthian full back Darren Classens. The forwards eventually gained some ground with back rows Rory Connellan and Sean Geraghty doing the donkey work, and this allowed Corinthian scrumhalf Michael Roche to get a quick ball out to Tim Donnelly who scored a beauty of a drop goal to close the gap to just three points.
With time running out Corinthians went on the offensive, and Sunday’s Well were forced to defend. However Barry McCann secured possession and quick ball, coupled with a skip pass, sent winger Dave Murphy in for a magnificent touch down. Donnelly converted to ensure Corinthians took the spoils and moved into third position in the league.
Corinthians: D Classens, D Murphy, W Williams, C Begley, R Forbes, T Donnelly, M Roche, T Stapleton (P McCrannor ), J Merrigan, D Small (B McCann ), P Cunningham (capt ), S Murphy (C McGuckian ), R Connellan, S Geraghty, A Casanova.
