CREGGS 36 BUCCANEERS 7
On a miserable misty evening at The Green, a more settled Creggs outfit finished the stronger to record a 36-7 victory over Buccaneers Seconds in the semi-final of the Cawley Cup.
Lee Kilcoyne found a yawning gap in the Shannonsiders defence to open the scoring. Following Tom Farrell’s yellow card Buccs soon levelled, Keelan Connolly’s desire earning him a touchdown between the uprights. Ruan Venter responded for the border side with a try and Shane Purcell’s second conversion saw Creggs lead 14-7 after an entertaining and even first half.
Creggs then managed Cormac Dolan’s ten minutes in the sin bin and indeed stretched their advantage with a Purcell penalty before the outhalf then converted his own smartly-taken try while the Athlone side’s Ben Daly was in the bin. There was now no way back for a motley Pirates crew and two late tries added further gloss for Creggs despite a third home yellow card. Purcell continued with his radar like place-kicking for the much more settled home outfit while Buccs got blow-outs for debutants Jared Brady, Lucca D’ambola and Joacquin del Olmo.
BUCCANEERS:- H.Hughes; C.Rooney-Digan, J.del Olmo, B.Daly; H.Balsiger, A.Flanagan; C.Daly, C.Brill, C.Fokam; E.Naughton, L.D’ambola; K.Connolly, J.Brady and L.Balsiger. Replacement:- R.Greene (for Hughes, inj.).
