Tough one to take
Lewis livid over controversial decisions during game
GALWAY CORINTHIANS 23 GREYSTONES 21
A penalty kicked by Conor Dean, son of former Ireland and Lions outhalf Paul Dean, deep into injury time put a halt to a spirited fightback by Greystones in Galway last Saturday afternoon as they fell to a second successive narrow defeat in the All Ireland League.
Trailing 15–3 at half-time the Wicklow outfit fought back to lead 21-20 thanks to a long-range Andrew Kealy penalty taken long after the 80-minute mark had passed but in a game that was not short of controversy the referee continued to play and penalised Greystones after the restart to provide Dean with the opportunity to emulate his father with a successful match-winning penalty with the last kick of the game.
In all the game saw three yellow cards, a red card for Greystones number eight Dan Mannion and Greystones Head Coach Kevin Lewis ordered from the sideline to watch much of the second half from inside the clubhouse.
Lewis had allowed his frustration to show at the repeated interventions of the touch judge who was to prove a central figure in the game.
Greystones captain Killian Marmion received a yellow card in the first half following one such intervention, ruling he had not wrapped his arms in a tackle and he stepped in again late in the game when he reported Mannion for allegedly striking out at an opponent when he was being pulled back in a ruck for which he received a red card.
In the game itself Corinthians made the brighter start and dominated for much of the first half.
They opened the scoring after just five minutes when full back Conor Hayes finished a move into the corner with the touchline conversion added by Dean.
Andrew Kealy responded with a penalty and the score remained 7-3 for much of the opening period before Corinthians added a second try when a line out maul and drive to line was touched down by back row Morgan O’Brien.
While the conversion was missed the last act of the first half was a long-range penalty by full back Hayes, who along with Dean, wing Oran McNulty and hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin is one of four full time Connacht Acadamy players on the Corinthians side.
While Greystones were hanging on for much of the first half, withstanding Marmion’s sin binning and struggling at scrum time they were a different side in the second half. Playing with a slight wind advantage they attacked from the off and did not take long before getting breakthrough when centre Con Callan sliced open the defence after the pack set up possession inside the Corinthians 22. Kealy added the points to reduce the deficit to five. The gap was pushed out to ten points when another big forward drive off a lineout delivered Corinthians their third try but Greystones were not done yet and kept coming back at the Galway side.
Former captain Bobby Clancy made a return to the Greystones starting 15 eighteen months after his retirement from senior rugby and turned the clock back with his trademark driving runs breaking through the home defence. Andrew Kealy added a second penalty before Cormac O’Donoghue finished in the corner with ten minutes to play. The touchline conversion would have levelled the scores but drifted wide of the posts.
With time up Greystones looked to have snatched a win at the death when Kealy calmly converted from the ten-meter line to take a onepoint lead before Dean cancelled the score out with the last kick of the game.
Afterwards Lewis was clearly unhappy with some of the games decisions and will be anxiously waiting on the disciplinary ruling following Mannion’s red card but was extremely proud of the way his team fought back and in their second half performance.
While veteran Bobby Clancy made a return, there were a number of young players gaining first team experience such as Ronan Mannion, Adam Benson and Danny Norse as Lewis seeks to strengthen the squads’ depth as they continue to deal with injuries suffered by key front line players on the artificial surface of the Lansdowne Road back pitch a couple of weeks back.
The result leaves Greystones tied with Corinthians in second place in Division 2B with a trip to Dungannon next on the cards before the visit of current leaders Blackrock to Dr Hickey Park on December 14.