BUCCANEERS 21 SLIGO 28
BUCCANEERS and Sligo served up a decent contest in the final round of the Bank of Ireland Connacht Senior League played at Dubarry Park on Saturday when the visitors edged the verdict on a 28-21 scoreline. On a warm, dry afternoon, both teams were relatively evenly matched and perhaps a draw would have been a fair reflection on the proceedings in front of a crowd enjoying both the rugby and the rather nice weather.
Buccs fielded a much-changed starting XV from the previous week’s outing and notably began with 7 U-20’s plus another handful on the bench. Last season’s skipper Corey Reid made his first appearance of this campaign while new captain James Kelly, Hugo Hernando, Orrin Burgess, Ryan O’Meara and Luke Balsiger were among the absentees for various reasons.
Although playing against the breeze, the Pirates got an early breakthrough when they turned over possession after a Sligo scrum before spreading the ball right to left where Conor Dowling raced in for a 6th minute unconverted try. Sligo responded with a 12th minute try by Rowan Gouws which he also converted. Four minutes later, the visitors extended their lead when Aorelian Durkin skipped past a couple of tackles much too easily and then was able to dot down near the uprights. Gouws conversion put Sligo 14-5 ahead.
Evan Ballantine was yellow carded on 22 minutes and Buccaneers applied some sustained pressure in his absence but were unable to breach the north-westerners defence. At the other end, Durkin could not hold a pass with Buccs outflanked. Following a penalty to the Bounty corner, the midlanders moved the ball smartly to the opposite flank where Dowling’s quick feet earned him his second try shortly before the interval. Abel Bouwens was short with this conversion also and so Buccaneer trailed 10-14 at half-time.
The tempo and breeze both dropped in the second half while Tane Leatherby became the second Sligo player to be sin-binned when he was pinged for a deliberate knock-on. Bouwens slotted over the resultant 55th minute penalty to leave just a single point between the teams. Buccs then regained the lead on 63 minutes when teenager Dowling completed his hattrick of unconverted tries following a fine maul by the Pirates pack.
Sligo struck back swiftly with Andrew Ryan getting by some weak tackling for a try converted by Gouws before Bouwens levelled the scores 21-21 from a 71st minute penalty. But as had happened too often for the homesters, they conceded soon again after scoring and substitute Ryan notched his second try. Daniel O’Connor converted this bonus point try to complete the 28-21 scoreline.
Buccs will be disappointed that they coughed up scores virtually every time they scored in a sometimes feisty affair. They would have hoped to secure more than a losing bonus point and perhaps Jack Quinn would have been a better option for place-kicks. But they will take positives in that a good number of young players got valuable game time ahead of the All-Ireland League commencing on Saturday week when they will also be confident that the players rested due to niggly injuries will be fit to play.
BUCCANEERS:- J.Quinn; R.Murphy-Sweeney, T.Shine, C.Reid (joint captain), C.Dowling; A.Bouwens, L.MacFarlane; K.Blessing, S.Glennon, C.Byrne; C.Sheehan (joint captain), F.Galbarcyzk; D.Bolger, P.Egan and N.Tallon. Replacements:- D.Quinn (for Byrne, h/t), O.Dolan (for Bolger, h/t), K.Byrne (for Galbarcyzk, 51 mins), S.Fogarty, A.Oates, A.Saka, E.Friel and D.Reid.
SLIGO:- D.O’Connor; G.McGinty, T.Leatherby, C.Griffith, A.Durkin; R.Gouws, J.Meads; C.Moffatt, M.Earley, M.O’Hehir; C.Cummins, E.Ballantine; M.O’Hara, K.Schoen and F.Dellamea. Rollings substitutes:- S.O’Hehir (captain), E.Lang, O.Lawley, B.Hynes, J.O’Hehir, T.Smith, A.Ryan and C.Creaven.
Referee:- Michael Honan (Connacht).
