GALWAY CORINTHIANS 27 BUCCANEERS 15
Three tries in seven minutes at the start of the second half proved crucial as Galway Corinthians defeated Buccaneers Juniors 27-15 in their Christy Reid Cup game played at Corinthian Park on Saturday.
Buccs dominated the opening exchanges but took until the 18th minute to reflect that on the scoreboard when Oisin O’Donoghue tapped a five-metre penalty after the hosts Ryan Gaughan was sin-binned to touchdown for an unconverted try. Seven minutes later Corinthians were fortunate not to incur a second yellow card when an untidy tackle contributed to Cian Daly not scoring wide on the left. Jack Quinn made an exciting break carried on by debutant Filip Galbarczyk in this move.
Two minutes later the Pirates were also reduced to 14 players when Dylan King’s high tackle earned the fly-half a yellow card. Corinthians, who had a few behemoths in their pack, quickly made the most of this as Kevin Hughes broke through for a try to level the scores. Buccs nosed ahead with Michael Egan’s penalty, the final action of the opening half, to lead 8-5 at the interval.
Corinthians blitzed Buccs with a trio of tries to take a firm grip on the proceedings 22-8 ahead after 48 minutes. Ryan Gaughan, Rory King and Killian Schouten scored these tries. Rory King then became the second King and outhalf to be sin-binned following dissent.
Buccs enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure before O’Donoghue claimed his second try wide on the right with Quinn adding a fine conversion to this 64th minute score. But in a late counter attack, Corinthians notched their fifth try that denied the midlanders a losing bonus point which they would have deserved.
GALWAY CORINTHIANS:- G.Murtagh; B.Grealy, O.Sheedy, B.Wall-Cooke, J.Farragher; R.King, T.Johnston; A.Masias, O.Meehan, A.Burke; R.Gaughan, K.Hughes; T.Newell, F.Gough and R.Murphy. Rolling substitutes:- E.Kavanagh, S.Janin, M.Farragher, H.Lynch and K.Schouten.
BUCCANEERS:- J.Quinn; K.Czerniak, C.Rooney-Digan, F.Lennon, P.Malassou; D.King, M.Egan; E.Rooney-Digan, C.Daly (captain), A.Oates; L.Giles, K.Byrne; B.Foxe, F.Galbarczyk and A.Saka. Rolling substitutes:- A.M.Abono, O.O’Donoghue, R.O’Reilly, T.Trainor and E.Furey.
Referee:- Jamie Coyle (Connacht).
