GREYSTONES 25 BUCCANEERS 29
A RESILIENT BUCCANEERS recovered from a very slow start to overhaul Greystones 29-25 in their J.P.Fanagan Leinster Premier League 2 game played in testing conditions at Dr. Hickey Park on Sunday. The Pirates trailed from early on and only took the lead for the first time in the closing stages of a hard fought Super Six Pool 1 contest.
Buccs were playing into the wind and conceded a converted try off a lineout just 7 minutes in. They had five lineouts that all went awry in the opening exchanges before a loose kick was fastened onto by the home fullback for their second converted try. A penalty at the end of the opening quarter gave Greystones a 17-0 lead with the Athlonians well below par at that stage.
The midlanders eventually got on the scoreboard with a Conor Dowling try and was followed with a fine Gabriel Murphy break that brought them close to the home line. This resulted in a yellow card for a Greystones player and soon Paddy Egan was surging over out wide for a try converted excellently against the elements by Dylan Duffy. This narrowed the arrears to 17-12 which remained the score at half-time.
Following a scrum after the change of ends, Egan notched his second try to level the scores. Stones regained the lead with a try before Egan completed his hat-trick to leave the teams tied at 22-22. The seasiders nosed ahead again with a penalty but Buccaneers had the final say when Duffy got in for a try which generated some controversy and he also converted to complete the 29-25 bonus point comeback victory.
A scrappy encounter in which Buccs did not play to their potential, yet they got the job done. Their scrum was utterly dominant, driving the opposition back at a rate of knots every time including winning a number of scrums against the head. However, the lineouts were a shambles and will require big work ahead of next match.
Egan was excellent when introduced, collecting a hattrick of tries in the process. Sean Rohan worked tirelessly again and led his team like a true captain. Duffy was very effective with his kicking game while Dowling was energetic in a new role at 9 and alive throughout and poached his try when Buccs backs were to the wall. Special mention to Kailin Blessing who returned after a lengthy injury lay-off and also to debutant Dan Kelly.
GREYSTONES:- C.Whitten; M.Stewart, N.Harte, C.Fitzpatrick, H.Gilmore; M.Murray, J.Buckley; H.Doyle, D.Naidoo, I.Kahn; M.Sweeney, R.Hughes; J.Murray, B.O’Reilly and N.Griffiths. Replacements:- L.O’Gorman, S.Gillespie, N.Stewart, T.von Teichman, A.Butler, O.Bradshaw and J.Ward.
BUCCANEERS:- D.Reid; D.Kelly, C.Kelly, D.Duffy, G.Murphy; J.Quinn, C.Dowling; E.Rooney-Digan, S.Glennon, A.Oates; C.Spellman, L.Anic; S.Rohan (captain), E.McMickan and A.Saka. Replacements:- S.O’Connor, K.Blessing, P.Egan, E.McLaughlin, M.Turner, K.Barrett and R.Costello.
Referee:- Niall O’Shea (Leinster).
