BUCCANEERS 14 SLIGO 12
BUCCANEERS SECONDS edged out their Sligo counterparts 14-12 in a Connacht Junior Plate semi-final that went all the way to the wire in spring-like conditions at Dubarry Park, Athlone, on Sunday. Having easily disposed of the north-westerners when the sides met in the first round of the Cup, Buccs were expected to again prevail but they found the going much tougher on this occasion and were forced to hang on in the closing stages when two late tries reignited Sligo.
Both teams were much-changed from their earlier meeting. Buccs were missing Ronan Farrell, Paul Gallogly and Conor FitzGibbon (all on duty with the Senior side) as well as Ruairi Byrne from that 41-7 victory. Meanwhile, Sligo had a drastic overhaul with only half the pack and just two backs surviving from that encounter!
Buccs got an early breakthrough on this occasion also when home pressure was finished off by Brian Campbell for a 9th minute try on the left. David Fagan added a fine conversion and the outhalf was then unlucky when a crunching tackle caused him to knock-on when going for the Sligo line. The opening half was played at a good tempo with play ebbing and flowing. A Brian Walsh raid down the right followed by a teasing kick ahead led to a good chase by Nick Purcell as Buccs looked to add to their tally. Sligo’s best opportunity stemmed from a smart break by Gavin Foley but the score remained 7-0 in favour of the Pirates at half-time.
The diagonal breeze freshened somewhat in the second period to the benefit of Sligo who now enjoyed better possession although the exchanges were now at a more leisurely tempo. Their pack was getting the upperhand but Buccs defended with commitment and discipline. Buccs began to make inroads again towards the three-quarters stage and a blatant offside tackle on 58 minutes by the stretched visitors should have merited a yellow card. Nevertheless, Buccs maintained their momentum from the subsequent phase and the pack drove over enmasse for a try accredited to Scott Flanagan. Fagan’s conversion put Buccs 14-0 to the good.
Hooker Rory Grenham was then strangely sin-binned for allegedly wheeling a scrum six minutes later and Sligo capitalised on their temporary numerical advantage when Stephen Kerins quickly tapped a close-in penalty for a try which he failed to convert. Four minutes later it was ‘squeaky bum time’ for Buccs when David Burke’s angled run from deep past a number of soft tackles yielded a second Sligo try with Kerins adding a drop kick conversion to leave just two points between the sides. However, Buccaneers pressed forward from the restart and finished the match within touching distance of the visitors’ line to win narrowly 14-12.
Buccs must be more consistent and precise against Galwegians in the Easter weekend final which give the Pirates time to fine tune their gameplan and fitness on the training paddock.
BUCCANEERS:- G.Costello; J.Lopez, B.Walsh, S.Flynn, B.Pears; D.Fagan, N.Purcell; K.Grehan, S.Flanagan, B.Campbell; K.Langdon, S.Byrne (captain); M.Lyons, N.Flynn and J.O’Donoghue. Replacements:- P.Hennessy (for Lyons, inj.), J.O’Connor (for Pears), G.Fallon (for Purcell), R.Grenham (for Campbell), G.Walsh (for N.Flynn) and N.Flynn (for Hennessy).
SLIGO:- S.O’Brien; L.Nicholson, D.Burke, G.Foley, C.Morris; T.Mulvanny (captain), S.Kerins; P.Allen, C.Adams, A.Tansey; D.Kiely, D.Coulter; A.Williams, M.McMorrow and S.Coulter. Replacements:- D.Harte (for O’Brien, inj.), D.Wilson (for Tansey) and A.Kerr.
