February 8th, 2010

BUCCANEERS RESERVES progressed to the second round of the Heineken Connacht Junior Cup when they pipped Loughrea 19-17 in a tough encounter at bitterly cold Dubarry Park on Sunday. Buccs were the more fluent side but made life difficult for themselves through some indiscipline and a lifting of the collective pedal off the floor much too early in a typically earnest Cup tie.

The homesters fielded a good mixture of youth and experience and began at a lively tempo in the opening quarter. Their opening score, an eight minute try, was on the cards from very early in this contest and it was a very well taken score. Cormac Sheehy, playing at fullback on this occasion, gathered a Loughrea clearance on his own 10 metre line and made substantial inroads into the visitors' territory before setting up Jimmy O'Connell for a fine try which Michael Donohoe converted. Home territory at this stage should really have yielded another score or two but gradually Loughrea got a toehold into the Buccs half although they could not capitalise on a couple of penalty opportunities while Adrian Hughes made one vital lineout catch and Darren Costello added a telling kick to touch to alleviate pressure.

But Loughrea's endeavours were rewarded with a 33rd penalty by their outhalf after Buccs infringed at a scrum and he was then unlucky five minutes later when another penalty rebounded off an upright. In hindsight, this was a key let-off. Buccaneers lead at half-time lead of 7-3 was a lot tighter than looked early on. However they restarted in bright fashion but Costello was off-target with a 43rd minute penalty before a good forwards drive sucked in the Loughrea cover and Gavin Kelly and Kolo Kiripati made ground with ball in hand before setting up Cormac O'Keeffe for a well-taken 50th minute try which Donohoe converted.

This gave Buccs a decent 14-3 advantage and the game looked done and dusted. But the midlanders became complacent and two players were yellow carded in quick succession for slowing possession, Brendan McManus on 56 minutes and Kevin Creaven four minutes later. McManus was off for 13 minutes with Creaven an unfathomable 16 minutes (whilst acknowledging that it is ten minutes actual playing time that the referee is allowing for). This double whammy revitalised Loughrea and they promptly penned Buccs back. Buccs were naieve when awarded a scrum inside their own 22 by not putting Kiripati into the pack for the setpiece and Loughrea made their numerical supremacy pay by driving the hosts off their own ball and were shortly afterwards awarded a 63rd minute penalty try after Buccs were shoved back close to their own try line. Seven minutes later, the visitors' No.8 got in for Loughrea's second try, both of which were converted, to take a 17-14 lead at, seemingly, the crucial juncture of the game.

But Buccs reorganised and revitalised their collective effort as the clock ticked down. Kiripati showed his class on 75 minutes when he steamed through a number of tackles down the left flank before cutting in for a splendid try which Donohoe, surprisingly, failed to convert from a straight-forward position. The match ended in a welter of excitement as the contest threatened to boil over with Adrian Hughes being the third Buccs player to see yellow in the final exchanges while a Loughrea flanker incurred a straight red card in the same incident.

The adroit kicking of Costello was key to Buccaneers success and this young outhalf is capable of getting more out of the bags of ability and potential that he possesses. His halfback partner O'Keeffe also put in a decent shift as did Sheehy at fullback. Creaven was a constant thorn to Loughrea and two other young forwards Paul Galvin and David Burns were to the fore in lots of Buccs best efforts.

BUCCANEERS:- C. Sheehy; M. Donohoe, G. Kelly, K. Kiripati, J. O'Connell; D. Costello, C. O'Keeffe; D. Kelly, D. Burns, L. Doran; B. McManus, Anthony Hughes; P. Galvin, K. Creaven and Adrian Hughes (captain).Replacements:- K. McIntyre (for O'Connell), D. Egan (for Burns) and D. Lennon (for Doran).

REFEREE:- P. Jennings. (Connacht)