GALWAY CORINTHIANS 64 BUCCANEERS 0
Friday 13th did not improve Buccaneers ill luck as they suffered a comprehensive 64-0 Energia All-Ireland League Division 2A defeat at the hands of Galway Corinthians under the Corinthian Park floodlights on Friday night. Second placed Corinthians were much the better outfit but Buccs did not help their cause with basic errors in this final fixture of 2024.
Buccs made five changes for this Connacht derby, a number of them enforced. Fergus Galvin and Adam O’Carroll joined the ever-growing list of absentees through injury while Ross Murphy-Sweeney was not available. Sam Fogarty, Patrick Egan and Luke Balsiger returned in the pack with Dylan Duffy and Tom Shine starting in the backline.
Corinthians, who had lost their previous two fixtures, were bolstered by the return of Joey Tierney, Rory King and Blaine Barry in their backline with a further trio Patrick Fahy, Jack Boyan and Bryan Walsh in their pack.
The midlanders needed to prevent the hosts from getting an early score but that swiftly evaporated, stemming from an elementary mistake when a penalty that would have given the Pirates an attacking position did not find touch. Corinthians countered and were rewarded when Max Holmes applied the finishing touch to a maul for a 5th minute try converted by Sean Naughton.
A second Buccs penalty was kicked over the deadball line as was another line kick effort. In between these errors, Boyan was driven over for a 12th minute home try. Next a crossfield kick sent King away and he off-loaded to Orin Burke for a try that gave the Tribesmen a 17-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter while Buccs cause was not helped by the loss of skipper Ryan O’Meara to injury after just 16 minutes.
Corinthians secured their bonus point on 26 minutes, Harry Rogers’ dummy wrong-footing the visitors’ defence. Naughton added the conversion but the Pirates steadied their ship until half-time without conceding further to trail 24-0 at the break.
James Nicholson made an immediate impact off the bench, breaking from his own ten metre line for a super solo try just two minutes after the change of ends. Rogers was yellow-carded midway through the half. Five more home tries followed at a steady rate with Naughton and John Devine each scoring a brace with Jack Pollard (who played with Buccs U-20s last season) also getting in on the scoring act as the westerners coasted to a facile 64-0 victory.
2024 has been an “annus horribilis” for Buccaneers without a single AIL victory. Positional changes in the backline may not have helped the balance there on Friday while the imperious Walsh was rarely challenged at lineouts. The squad, which lost many players from last season, has also been cruelly decimated by injuries. Many of the players are very young and relatively inexperienced, whilst also generally conceding size, so it has been most challenging for them. To their credit they are showing commendable courage and commitment and hopefully they will benefit in the long term from this steep learning curve.
GALWAY CORINTHIANS:- O.Burke; R.King, H.Rogers, J.Devine, B.Barry; S.Naughton, J.Tierney; P.Fahy, M.Holmes, R.Dufficy; R.Glynn, B.Walsh; J.Claffey, J.Boyan and M.Boyle (captain). Replacements:- T.Farthing (for Barry, 35 mins), J.Nicholson (for Burke, h/t), J.Pollard (for Holmes, h/t), O.Burke (for Tierney, 48 mins), L.Cahill (for Walsh, 52 mins) and R.Gonzalez (for Dufficy).
BUCCANEERS:- H.Hughes; H.Balsiger, T.Shine, D.Hawkshaw, D.Colgan; D.Duffy, A.Flanagan; R.Henderson, C.Daly, R.O’Meara (captain); L.d’Ambola Riera, S.Fogarty; L.Balsiger, P.Egan and O.Burgess. Replacements:- C.Byrne (for O’Meara, inj.16 mins), C.Morrissey (for Burgess, inj. 48 mins), J.del Olmo (for Egan, 52 mins), R.Teape (for Colgan, 65 mins) and G.Catarino (for Daly, 65 mins).
Referee:- Shane Touhey (Connacht).
