Corinthians moved into the top two of the Ulster Bank League division 2A on Saturday despite losing by 35 - 33 to City of Derry.
In a highly entertaining contest, the home side secured the first of the game’s 11 tries after seven minutes when lock Brian Prue drove over. However Corinthian were soon off the mark when prop Aodhan Glynn scored in the corner following good work from lock Ultan Dillane. The visitors were again on the scoreboard when captain Fionn Gormley supplied centre James Buckley who ran in under the posts, with O’Flynn adding the extras.
However Derry’s kicker Chris Barber kicked a penalty before left wing Simon Logue broke through the Corinthian defence to touch down out wide, putting the hosts 13-12 up at the break. And they maintained the momentum after Corinthian lock Mark Byrne was yellow-carded for offside, bagging two tries to stretch the lead to 25 - 12.
However Corinthians never gave up. With O’Flynn finding good touches, and the pack winning line-outs, Buckley grabbed his second try, and from the restart Gormley broke through the cover to score again, with O’Flynn converting both to leave just a point between the sides.
While Derry spurned a penalty opportunity, Buckley kicked a loose ball up field, collected and dived under the posts. O’Flynn’s conversion gave Corinthians a 33 -26 lead. It should have been enough, but from the restart Corinthians failed to control the bouncing ball, and Derry replacement Cathal Cregan pounced to score.
Well into injury time Derry struck again when right wing David Graham collected outhalf Richard Peoples’ perfect punt to score out wide, giving the home side full points.
Corinthians: D Cassens, B Dickson, J Buckley, F Gormley cpt ), O Daly, M O’Flynn, S Bruce, A Glynn, K O’Byrne, T Tolan, M Byrne, U Dillane, A Cassanova, A Conneely, S Gerrity .Replacments, M Lee, B Murphy, E Flynn, M Flynn, A O’Connell.
