Mayo rugby club pay the price for slow start

For Mayo rugby club Castlebar RFC, the Super 4 round is turning into a painful experience. After a successful seven-game qualifier campaign in the Connacht J1A League, with a valuable win over Mayo rivals Ballina RFC, the boys from the county town would have hoped for better results.

But last week's 41-3 drubbing in Clifden against Connemara was followed up by a 39-14 defeat away to Creggs last weekend. Once again it was a slow and sluggish start, that made life very difficult for Castlebar: “We were leaking tries early again. We made simple errors, conceded needless offside penalties that gave Creggs easy access into our 22,” Castlebar forwards coach Doron McHugh told The Mayo News after the match. 

READ: Castlebar RFC mauled by Connemara

Galway side Creggs showed their prowess in the first phases from a set piece attack and scored two tries. Castlebar rallied and rewarded themselves with a try by Luke Staunton, which Stevie Rogan converted, to reduce the deficit to 27-7 at half-time. 
At least the parallels with the Connemara match last week ended there from the Mayo team's perspective.

A week ago, Castlebar were banging on the door for 15 minutes, with Connemara mostly defending from their try line, but they couldn't get the ball over the whitewash, it was almost as if the try zone was impenetrable, under a magic spell that prevented any Castlebar player from entering. 

That curse was broken in Creggs before half-time. But it wasn't the start of a comeback for Castlebar, as they had a try disallowed early in the second half, which could have changed the momentum of the contest, but the decision didn’t go their way. 

Castlebar kept working though and front row stalwart Seán Tonra powered over the line for their second try. 
“Unfortunately, again little errors from us gave Creggs easy penalties. They closed out the game. Our lads kept fighting to the last play, huge credit to them,” McHugh stated. The final score line was again a tough pill to swallow with 25 points between the sides but at least Castlebar put scores on the board this time. 

However, the dream of staying in the promotion race is over now and Castlebar will have their last league game in three weeks away to Tuam. Both teams met before this season and it was a 13-10 win for Castlebar. 

READ: Mayo rugby talent in the mix for a spot on the Ireland U-18 team