BUCCANEERS 32 SLIGO 24
Buccaneers U-16s qualified for the Connacht League semi-final earning a home game vs Westport when their 32-24 victory over Sligo leap-frogged them over both clubs into second place. It took a sterling performance at Dubarry Park on Saturday to qualify.
Buccs had a wake-up call after 5 minutes when Sligo swept through a fragile defence for an early try. But they responded with a great John Finnan try after some marvellous off-loading. Sligo replied with a try of their own and finished the half 19-14 ahead after a Darragh Murray home try. Myles Fallon waltzed over after lineout pressure caused Sligo to overthrow and a 50-metre run by Sean O’Hara put Buccs ahead by 26-19. A long-range Murray penalty and another shorter one was interspersed with another soft Sligo touchdown.
Buccs pack were outstanding to a man but their backline defence will need to drastically improve if they are to progress further in the knockout stages.
BUCCANEERS:- T Herron, C McCormack, P Sunny, C Doran, M Doolan, A Murphy, A Costello, S O’Hara, N Robinson, M Fallon, H Lowe, J McDonnell, B Rourke, A Jacob, S Lowe, E Carr, R O’Connor, C Movill, R Hughes, J Finnan, E Friel, D Murray, A Viktor and A Sebastian.
