SKERRIES 25 BUCCANEERS 23
BUCCANEERS and the Hungary soccer team had much in common last weekend, both going down to last ditch scores after looking the better sides for much of their encounters. At wet and windy Holmpatrick on Saturday, a final move try by Ronan Mulcahy dashed Buccs hopes in their Energia All-Ireland League Division 2B game with the hosts pipping the midlanders 25-23. A second yellow card to the Pirates skipper Corey Reid with 23 minutes remaining was arguably the decisive incident in a well-contested encounter.
Buccs made five changes from their defeat to Navan with Reid returning after injury to lead his team to the home club of Assistant Coach Garreth Halligan. An injury to Tom Shine in the warm-up saw Ross Murphy-Sweeney come in on the right wing while Gearoid McDonald started at fly-half with Abel Bouwens moved to full-back. Ryan O’Meara and Luke Balsiger came into the pack. Skerries had just a single change in personnel from their win away to Malone, Taidhg Keane-Boylan replacing David Goodman on the right wing.
A strong breeze blew from goal to goal at the Holmpatrick pitch, right beside the coast, and the visitors were first to face the elements after one minute’s silence was observed in front of a decent attendance considering the cold and wet weather. Following the kick-off Patrick Egan claimed a Skerries lineout on the right and good play across the width of the pitch ended with Reid powering in for a second minute try for Buccs. Against the gale McDonald was unable to add the conversion from wide on the left.
Mulcahy, son of Connacht legend Bill, landed penalties for the seasiders on 6 and 17 minutes but, in between, Buccs should have had a penalty at a scrum just a few metres from the home line. Somehow, the referee penalised the midlanders even though it was the home front row that collapsed!
Although playing against the stiff breeze, Buccs enjoyed a good percentage of territory and following a penalty to the left, a solid drive by the pack yielded a 20th minute Dan Donovan unconverted try, his fifth touchdown in three matches. Adam Cooper followed this up with a rollicking break but accidental crossing resulted in a penalty on halfway which Mulcahy drilled over. McDonald replied with a 27th minute penalty for Buccs while Thomas Cotton was whistled back following an intercept due to an earlier infringement. Mulcahy landed his fourth penalty just before halftime at which stage Buccs led 13-12.
That put the Shannonsiders in a very promising position but their penalty count was mounting and Reid was sin-binned six minutes after the change of ends seemingly due to an accumulation of infringements by the Pirates. Skerries regained the lead two minutes later through a Mulcahy penalty. Nevertheless Buccs then applied a sustained spell of patient pressure and Leo MacFarlane wrong-footed the home defence to score a smartly-taken 54th minute try which McDonald converted to put the midlanders 20-15 ahead.
But moments later a thumping tackle by Reid on Cal Marrey was flagged by a touch-judge. While his earlier sin-binning was innocuous, the Athlone side’s captain could not argue with his second yellow card and so the Pirates were down to 14 players for the final quarter.
Skerries promptly set about taking advantage and they were helped when Buccs were far too slow getting the ball away from a scrum inside the opposition half. The seasiders counter-attack was finished wide on the left for a try by Kevin McGrath that left the scores tied 20-20 after 64 minutes. Skerries were now striving to find space whilst Buccaneers defended tenaciously.
The Shannonsiders edged ahead with a 72nd minute McDonald penalty and four minutes later the referee blew for a knock-on to award a scrum to Buccs, not playing advantage as MacFarlane was making promising strides down the right flank. Then in the final move of a compelling encounter, a tired tackle fell off Harry Cole and he drew the final defender before sending Mulcahy over near the right corner for the winning try.
So heartbreak for Buccaneers who deserved far more than their losing bonus point for they looked the better outfit for much of this lively contest as they just ran out of steam in the testing conditions when being a player short. Cooper, up against Kiwi U-20 Alex Hewitt (son of All-Black Norman), was Buccs standout performer with Sam Meecham and Oisin Dolan also putting in sterling efforts. Halfbacks McDonald and MacFarlane kept Buccs on the front foot for large swathes of the match.
Despite scoring three tries the result was ultimately disappointing, but the overall performance was a vast improvement on last time out. Had discipline been better then the outcome would surely have went in favour of Buccaneers.
SKERRIES:- J.Litchfield; T.Keane-Boylan, D.Lowndes, M.Sherlock, K.McGrath; R.Mulcahy, J.Healy; T.Scuffil, C.Marrey, A.Hewitt; B.McKiernan, R.Gilbride; A.Cleary, D.McEneaney and P.O’Neill (captain). Replacements used:- O.McNamara, S.Deering, B.Murphy, P.O’Loghlen and H.Cole.
BUCCANEERS:- A.Bouwens; R.Murphy-Sweeney, T.Cotton, C.Reid (captain), O.Burgess; G.McDonald, L.MacFarlane; A.Cooper, O.Dolan, R.O’Meara; C.Sheehan, S.Meecham; P.Egan, D.Donovan and L.Balsiger. Replacements:- S.Glennon (for Dolan, 56 mins), C.Byrne (for O’Meara, 72 mins), J.Kelly, D.Duffy and D.Colgan.
Referee:- Ethan Lyons (IRFU).
