Improved Buccs cruise past Corinthians

BUCCANEERS, showing improvement from last week"s setback, were always in control in their 23-5 Connacht Senior League win over Corinthians at sunny Dubarry Park on Saturday. Benny Gilligan and Paul Harte made their first competitive starts in front of a reasonable attendance in surprisingly kind weather conditions apart from a diagonal breeze. Buccs forced the pace from the off and neat interplay in which Niall Lear was prominent culminated in Alan Gaughan"s 6th minute try. The young winger duly added the conversion and ten minutes later landed a fine penalty from the left. He then stretched the home advantage to 13-0 with a lengthy 25th minute penalty. A smart reverse pass by Mark Bruce three minutes later then set a good passing move downfield where Gavin Kelly finished off for a try on the left despite the presence of a plethora of Corinthians players. The score was 18-0 in favour of Buccaneers at the break. Buccs had other reasonable chances to add to their tally in both halves but were impatient on occasion whilst passing was not consistently crisp throughout. However, seven minutes into the second period, Bruce delivered a sublime pass to Simon Rolleston who linked up with Niall O"Hara and Gaughan and, although the latter"s pass was far from precise, Harte did well to latch on to the ball for an unconverted try. Three minutes later, Wayne Williams" quick penalty caught Buccs napping and Corinthians impressive centre scored a fine opportunist try but his conversion attempt was thwarted when the ball fell off the kicking tee. Forward passes to Lear and Kolo Kiripati then denied Buccs clear-cut try opportunities as the game ebbed to a tame conclusion but the homesters got the chance to give their bench, including the just-returned Alamoti TePou, some part of the action. Buccaneers lineout work was decidedly better on this outing despite the best endeavours of visiting captain Pat Cunningham. Kiripati continues to look the best of the new recruits while Adrian Hanley and especially Kevin Moran did well among the forwards. Lear put in an improved contribution in the backline where Gaughan and Harte threatened most. BUCCANEERS: N.O"Hara (capt); P.Harte, N.Lear, S.Brady, A.Gaughan; S.Rolleston, M.Bruce; B.Gilligan, G.Kelly, K.Moran; B.McManus, L.Tonkan; K.Kiripati, K.O"Gorman and A.Hanley. Replacements: A.Hughes (for McManus, 51 mins), C.Lavelle (for O"Hara, 51), M.Madden (for Kelly, 55), A.TePou (for Hanley, 67) and A.Daly (for Moran, 78). CORINTHIANS: R.Ferguson; D.O"Sullivan, W.Williams, M.O"Boyle, D.Murphy; T.Hall, H.Griffin; G.O"Neill, D.Bardon, D.Small; A.Casanova, S.McInerney; P.Cunningham (capt), T.Stapleton and R.Connellan. Replacements: B.Taylor, M.Kelly, L.Jordan and P.McCronnagh. REFEREE: Dermot Blake (Leinster). BUCCANEERS AWAY TO CONNEMARA BUCCANEERS travel west to Clifden on Saturday when they conclude their Connacht Senior League fixtures away to Connemara at the Monastery Ground, kick-off 3pm. The Blacks did not fulfil their league fixture against Galwegians and were well beaten by Corinthians in the previous round. At home they will most likely field and, of course, they are not to be underestimated on their own western seaboard patch. It is not an ideal scenario for Buccaneers but it should, nevertheless, give the midlanders further opportunity to fine tune and sharpen up, with the AIB League kick-off now just three weeks away. Meanwhile, Buccaneers have an U-20 friendly against Newbridge at Dubarry Park on Saturday afternoon. The Reserves kick off their Connacht Junior League campaign at home to Sligo on Sunday week, kick-off time to be confirmed due to its clash with the All-Ireland Football final (which is likely to be tighter than the hurling!). AIB CUP BUCCANEERS got a tough draw in the second round of the AIB Cup. They were second last club to be pulled out of the Cup and thus got home advantage for the visit of Clontarf on Saturday, November 1st.