Sligo see off Corinthians

SLIGO finished off their Connacht Senior League campaign in fine style with an emphatic win over a lively Corinthians outfit at Hamilton park last Saturday.

With both teams on the same points going into the final match, only a win would give the either of them an opportunity to claim the title.

However, despite Sligo securing the vital bonus point victory, Athlone based Buccaneers clinched the title with a win over Galwegians and Sligo had to settle for a very respectable second place.

It was the visitors who kicked off playing towards the airport end. Defences held firm until the twelfth minute when Sligo were first to set the scoreboard moving.

Strong tackling in midfield forced an error in the visitors play and Mark Rooney was quickest to react. The fleet footed centre collected the ball on the Sligo 10 metre line and outpaced the cover defence to race to the line.

Corinthians responded and made their way into Sligo territory. A Jack Feeney penalty struck from the Sligo 22 opened the scoring for the Galway outfit.

Mike Wells almost immediately cancelled out the visitors penalty with an excellently struck effort into the breeze to regain Sligo’s five point advantage.

From the restart Sligo pressed again and positioned themselves inside the visitors 22. A prolonged period of pressure ensued but Corinthians held firm and regained possession.

The relief for the visitors was short lived however as the attempted clearance kick was blocked by the onrushing Sligo defence. Sligo secured the ball and the excellent Ryan Feehily flashed it left where winger Enda Gavin was waiting to finish in the corner.

Corinthians picked up two more Feeney penalties to put the half time score at 13-9 in favour of the hosts.

Five minutes into the second half Sligo picked up their third try of the day. Intelligent kicking positioned Sligo in the Corinthians 22 and pressure at the lineout earned Sligo a scrum 10 metres from the line. Sligo’s front row of Conor Mitchell, James O’ Hehir and Kuba Wojtkowicz provided clean ball for Matthew Cosgrove to lift at the base and burst through the cover to dot down. Wells converted to push Sligo up to 20.

Sligo were now in the ascendancy and were looking dangerous in all areas. Diarmuid O’Dowd-Hill was marshalling the line out ably assisted by James Wilson.

Manu Parkin was proving a menace in the loose and Captain Shane Boyle was carrying into the heart of the Corinthians defence at every opportunity.

Mark Butler was showing his usual calmness at outhalf and the youngsters Callum Goddard and Niall Gray were eagerly attacking at every opportunity.

The bonus point try was secured with 55 minutes on the clock. Midfield pressure by the Sligo defence forced the error and Wells capitalised in typical fashion by gathering on the visitors 22 to race to the sticks for the try.

With former Sligo player Stephen Kerins to the fore Corinthians responded with a try from second row Aaron Broderick but Sligo were not going to allow a comeback and showed their strength in depth by bringing on replacements Matt Davey, Craig Adams, Shane Mc Guinness, Ross O’ Boyle, Ciaran Cassidy, Sean Mullan and Daire Byrne who all slotted in seamlessly.

Sligo continued to play with their high intensity and Rooney picked up his second of the day in typical fashion before Sean Mullan closed out the scoring with Sligo’s sixth try.

With two wins and a narrow defeat to clubs from higher Ulster Bank League divisions the Connacht league looks to have been excellent preparation for Sligo’s upcoming UBL campaign. be look

Sligo’s opening fixture is an away journey to Limerick to tackle Thomond RFC. The league kicks off on Saturday September 16th.