A crisp, calm, dry December day was the backdrop to the meeting between Corinthians and Monivea; however the game played in Cloonacauneen did not reflect the mood of the elements. Instead it was a hard fought encounter with some very tough rugby played between two well matched sides. Monivea started the better of the two and it took the home side a good 10 minutes to settle into the game. Monivea were unable to convert their early superiority into points and this was due to some good defending, particularly by winger Ruarí Phelan who never shirked away from making the hits. Corinthian’s forwards led the way in the revival of their team and hooker Eoin Greaney was able to take advantage of a very solid scrum and took a number of strikes against the head. Liam Brennan was superb in the line out not only catching from his own throw in but also taking a lot of the opposition’s as well. The only score of the game happened in the 27th minute, when Niall McLoughlin crossed the line. This 5 pointer was the result of some great forward play, the players picking and driving and sucking in the Monivea defence with Niall breaking off and helped across the line by his team mates. There were no points added from the conversion attempt. The second half proved to be every bit as competitive as the first with both sides showing some good skills and a willingness to run the ball. It was only through the odd pass going astray and some good tackling that either side failed to convert their chances. For Corinthians, full back Darren Hennessy dealt with some good positional kicking from Monivea by fearlessly going down on the ball despite the pressure of the attacking side. The last 10 minutes was a tense affair with Monivea really putting it up to Corinthians with wave after wave of attack battering the home side’s defences who it must be said showed great character and resilience to hold the visitors out. The game finished with just the one score between the sides a victory for the home team by 5 to 0.
