CORRIB 5 BUCCANEERS 43
BUCCANEERS U-17’s played their first game since the beginning of December when they took the road to Headford in the first round of the Connacht Cup. This was a potential banana skin for the midlanders due mainly to the lack of matches since the league final and Corrib’s well-known grittiness at their home venue. However, though depleted, this Buccs team came out of the traps with a determined mind set. Demonstrating a better variety in their attacking play, the away team played some lovely rugby with some super handling and offloading skills. Newcomers Andrieu Oates and Josh McCormack have given Buccs a lift and had promising debuts.
Best for Buccs were Brian Mulvihill, Leon Cassidy and Andy Quinn in the backs and Sean Doyle, Gabriel Murphy and Oates in the forwards as the young Pirates progressed to the next round on a 43-5 scoreline.
BUCCANEERS:- S Doyle, S Rohan, S Joyce, A Oates, A Ward, G Murphy, A Saka, M Fallon, J McCormack, P Egan, J Pinto, N Tallon, F Lyons, A Quinn, B Mulvihill, E Joyce, L Cassidy, S Drummond and D Connolly.
BUCCANEERS BLACKS 38 BUCCANEERS YELLOWS 17
Buccaneers U-14 ‘black’ team beat Buccaneers U-14 ‘yellow’ team in the first round of the Connacht Cup on a sunlit Sunday afternoon on the excellent Marist College pitch. A score of 38-17 does not portray the closeness of the encounter expertly refereed by Brian Tallon. The ‘yellow’ team who had progressed past Westport in the preliminary round now enter the Plate competition and the ‘black’ team move into the next round of the Cup. It was wonderful to see two U-14 teams from our club going head-to-head in front of a crowd of supporters. There were scores aplenty as both sides exhibited their fast-improving skills in this enthralling encounter.
Top players on the day were Hugo Hannon, Sean Brett, Hugo McGowan, Nathan Kelly, Phillip Finnan, Darragh Glennon and Evin Claffey.
BUCCANEERS:- K Nolan, D Dullea, S Ward, E O’Sullivan, D Cleary, A Gonzalo, T Coleman, C Brazil, R Colleran, R Nagle, H Hannon, P Bourke, E Claffey, F Byrne, A Claffey, H McGowan, O O’Donoghue, A Connors, J Bourke, S Nugent, D Glennon, S Brett, P Finnan, C Ainscough, N Stewart, O Egan, A Juan and J Ryan.
