BUCCANEERS 21 BALLINASLOE 31
BUCCANEERS and Ballinasloe served up terrific fare in the Bank of Ireland Connacht U-16 Girls Cup final with the Galway side’s sharper cutting edge steering them to a 31-21 victory after a highly entertaining and skillful decider at the Dexcom Stadium on Sunday.
Like their U-14 clubmates, Buccs had first use of the elements and enjoyed good possession and territory but encountered stubborn and committed resistance by their opponents. Sally Fleming and Kate Mallon both went close to scoring before Gemma Eivers powered through four defenders after some patient recycling to score an 8th minute try converted by Fleming.
Ballinasloe responded with a brace of unconverted tries to lead 10-7 but Buccs regained the lead with a vigorous finish by Mila Fralkova with Fleming again on target with the conversion. But they could not protect their advantage until the interval as Ballinasloe made a prompt retort to score a converted try in the final move of the half to lead 17-14 having faced the elements.
Two tries in quick succession midway through the second half pushed Ballinasloe into a comfortable 31-14 lead. But Buccaneers stayed in a fast-moving contest that ebbed and flowed and their efforts were rewarded when Mollie Quinn capitalised on impressive support play to score a try on the right. Fleming’s conversion proved to be the final act of a derby duel worthy of the occasion and Ballinasloe took the honours that their more rounded endeavours merited against a gallant Pirates crew.
BUCCANEERS:- O.Collins; F.Amade, C.O’Connor (captain), M.Fralkova, K.Mallon; S.Fleming, M.Quinn; M.Bassey, S.Somers, K.Sylvester; S.Trainor, C.Larkin; C.McEnroe, E.Brady and G.Eivers. Replacements:- H.Larkin (for McEnroe), N.Mulchrone (for Somers), F.Dolan (for Bassey), A.Keogh (for Trainor), A.Dullea (for Sylvester), V.Oliyode, E.Galvin, K.Ahouissou, L.Gaynor, R.Tselapedi, E.Whittaker, Z.Henson, K.Mburu, M.Pavivic, L.Engelbrecht and C.Shortall.
BALLINASLOE:- L.Fleming; C.Flanagan, K.Canning, A.Glynn, A.Concannon; T.Power, L.Berrigan; A.Fallon, K.Cooney-Hyland, K.Tully; I.Elliffe, S.Ward; E.Condon, C.Donnelly (captain) and E.O’Sullivan. Replacements:- M.Ryan, R.Kelly, S.Quinn, K.Devine, I.K.Costello, A.Goode, L.Cotera Campo, H.Russell, E.McDermott and M.O’Leary.
Referee:- Cormac Fahy (Connacht) .
