BUCCANEERS 17 NAVAN 12
A last gasp try by Niall Tallon edged Buccaneers U-20’s over the line in the opening round of Leinster’s Purcell Cup competition when they came from behind to defeat Navan 17-12 at Dubarry Park on Sunday. Five changes from the starting XV that clinched the league title just a couple of weeks ago meant that the Pirates were not as fluent as in the league. But that cannot excuse the amount of errors and indiscipline that unfolded on a beautiful afternoon that heralded the arrival of summertime.
Injuries and GAA commitments denuded Buccs of key players such as Tom Sheehan, Charlie O’Carroll, Conor Ryan, Niel Botes, Dylan Duffy and Sean Doyle. James Clarke and Shaun Sweeney started at fullback and scrumhalf respectively with Donnacha Connolly moved to centre. Giorgio Racca, Luca Giles and Eoin Naughton came into the pack.
Aided by the breeze blowing from the clubhouse end, Buccs enjoyed lots of territory but they had no end product to show for it. They were sloppy with lots of handling errors and far too many penalties conceded, all of which helped Navan ease into the contest. Giles was sin binned on 24 minutes and the Royals promptly added further discomfort with Matthew Conlon applying the finishing touch following the resultant tapped penalty in front of the posts. Declan O’Connor’s conversion gave Navan a 7-0 lead against the run of play and instilled confidence in their challenge.
Twice Buccs came tantalisingly close to opening their account before the half-time break, but Sweeney knocked on when trying to ground the ball and Thomas Cotton’s penalty rebounded off an upright as the Pirates remained scoreless at the interval.
Navan’s Luke Griffin on 39 minutes and Conor Sheehan three minutes into the second half incurred yellow cards before the Meath side stretched their advantage on 45 minutes when Evin Hartnett scored an unconverted try following an impressive maul. Ten minutes later Navan’s Ben McCreary visited the sin bin and Buccs finally began to play with more accuracy and enterprise.
Their comeback kicked in following a penalty to the left, after which a number of sallies were held out by Navan before Cotton’s pinpoint crossfield kick found Connolly who dotted down for 57th minute try which Cotton converted. Conor Dowling made an exciting break up the left flank to lift the homesters and, following an excellent 50/22 by Cotton, he was on hand to squeeze in for an unconverted 67th minute try at the left corner to tie the scores 12-12.
A high tackle on Sweeney further galvanised the hosts as did a storming 40 metre charge by Tallon and it was fitting that the excellent No.8 got the decisive score. This stemmed from a rousing finishing flourish that went ever closer to the visitors’ line as extra-time loomed but Tallon had the final say when surging over despite the efforts of several defenders to touchdown at The Bounty corner.
Although Cotton’s sideline conversion was narrowly wide, Buccs had done just enough to advance to the next round. But this was a stuttering display with many problems of their own making including a misfiring lineout. Being league champions makes Buccaneers an attractive target for opponents but the Pirates have it within themselves to step up on this performance.
BUCCANEERS:- J.Clarke; C.Kelly, D.Connolly, T.Cotton, L.McCormack; E.Joyce-Whyte, S.Sweeney; A.Oates, S.Rohan, B.Foxe; G.Racca, C.Sheehan (captain); L.Giles, E.Naughton and N.Tallon. Replacements:- A.Saka (for Giles, h/t), O.Donoghue (for Oates, h/t), C.Dowling (for Clarke, h/t), P.Egan (for Naughton, 50 mins), S.Browne (for Racca, 50 mins), L.Cassidy and E.Murtagh.
NAVAN:- S.Corrigan; L.Griffin, S.O’Hare, M.McKenna, A.Reynolds; D.O’Connor, B.Cherry; A.Maltese, C.Kenny, S.O’Connor; B.McCreary, C.Browne; M.Shivmangal (captain), O.Heffernan and M.Conlon. Replacements:- E.Hartnett, K.McKenna, C.Egan, F.McNally, E.McSherry, T.Powderly and C.Beggy.
Referee:- Jamie Coyle (Leinster).
