Corinthians on cloud nine as season ends with try feast

Corinthians 53
Seapoint 10

Rob Murphy at Corinthian Park

IN front of another big crowd, Corinthians rounded off what might just be their best ever All-Ireland league season in fine style with a nine try to one victory over Seapoint at a damp and windy Corinthian Park.

On a day of celebration for the club to mark their promotion to Division 1B of the All Ireland league, spectators were treated to food, banter and activities for kids off the field and some free running rugby on the pitch as the home side looked to secure the bonus point win that would keep them in with a shout for the outright title.

As it turned out, Terenure College secured a big win on their travels against UCC to claim top spot and the Division 2A trophy, but that is only a minor disappointment in a season that was a remarkable success for the Phil Pretorius coached side.

Having toppled UCC in their previous outing two weeks earlier, Corinthians were out of reach of the rest of the field and had promotion already secured. Just two defeats in 15 games tells its own tale.

They have been a cut above the rest and while one of those losses came in the derby against Galwegians, that proved to be a small price to pay as their reaction to that result and out of kilter performance back in November has been remarkable. They haven’t lost since and even beat the league winner Terenure College at home.

Seapoint came to Galway a little light on resources and very much in end of season mode with their safety in the division secured. They are a club that has made tremendous progress in the past five years climbing out of the junior ranks and securing an immediate promotion to the third tier where they have settled.

This however, will go down as a bad day at the office. Corinthians scored early through inside centre Cian Begley and added to that on the ten minute mark when one of their top players this season, Kevin O’Byrne, powered over at the back of a maul. He’s leaving the Connacht set up at the end of the season and will be a loss.

Begley then got his second after a breakout following a turnover in the Corinthian half. It ended with the nippy centre fly-hacking a loose ball and then showing his searing pace to win the race for the touchdown. Seapoint responded with a Stephen Verso try and got the score back to 17-10 thanks to the boot of Peter Leydon.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.