Early Buccs promise fades as Wegians take control
Buccaneers 17 Galwegians 30
By Michael Silke
After a promising start, Buccaneers were overhauled by a more physical Galwegians side in their Connacht Senior League encounter played on a gorgeous sunny Friday evening at Dubarry Park where they visitors prevailed 30-17.
Buccs made three changes from their encouraging victory away to Corinthians, Adam O’Carroll starting on the right wing with Cian Daly and Jack Scouler in the pack. Wegians had a quartet coming in, Darragh Kennedy and Eoghan Fahey in the backline with Liam Angermann and Gonzalo Alvarez slotting into the pack. But their key switch from their narrow loss at Sligo was the moving of Stephen Mannion from flyhalf to inside centre.
The Pirates were lively and enterprising in the opening quarter during which they built up a 10-0 lead. Dylan Bolger claimed a long Wegians lineout throw and the ball was moved neatly via Gearoid McDonald and Tom Shine to Jenson Nagle. The slightly built full-back sped in for a fourth-minute try converted by McDonald.
The light blues conceded a number of early penalties and McDonald drilled over a 14th-minute placekick for that 10-0 advantage. But shortly afterwards the outhalf, the home side’s most experienced operator, was forced off with a hamstring issue that will be a concern ahead of the start of the AIL on September 21.
Buccs suffered a further setback when Wegians, in their first raid into the home 22, displayed slick handling to send Jack Quinn in for a 22nd-minute try on the left.
From the restart Andrew Sherlock’s angled kick looked like breaching the midlanders cover but Nagle was brave and swift to clear the danger. But their earlier try had lifted the visitors and Jack Haugh powered over on the right for a 28th-minute try converted by Mannion.
Their superiority in the scrum then enabled Sherlock to send Mannion in for a try just before the break that arrived with Galwegians 17-10 to the good.
Reece Henderson made his debut for the hosts after the interval, replacing Daly, with Luke Balsiger replacing Scouler four minutes into the second half.
Wegians stretched their advantage on 49 minutes when Mannion escaped the clutches of two tacklers to knife through for his side’s bonus point try which he also converted. The flyhalf then added a pair of penalties to push the Tribesmen 30-10 ahead.
The visitors were pinged for some untidy tackling throughout before Cian Brady was sin-binned eight minutes from time. Buccs were poor for the middle half of this contest but they rallied in the closing quarter and were rewarded when Nagle made a typically exciting foray up the left to send Shine in for a try at the corner. O’Carroll landed an excellent touchline conversion to complete the scoring and the action just before the lights went out!
After the promise shown in their preceding two fixtures, this was a disappointing performance by the Athlone side. They faded after a promising opening quarter that featured some lovely passing and movement.
Scrums remain a problem area while the lack of a target man at lineouts is glaring. Young prop Henderson did reasonably well on his debut while another rookie Nagle was the bright light on this occasion. Mannion will prove a huge asset to Galwegians, his 20 points and overall contribution confirming he will be a massive loss to Buccaneers.
Buccaneers: J. Nagle; A. O’Carroll, R. Murphy-Sweeney, T. Shine, H. Balsiger; G. McDonald, F. Hopkins (captain); C. Daly, C. Morrissey, D. Bolger; F. Galvin, S. Fogarty; P. Egan, J. Scouler, J. Crampton. Replacements: A. Flanagan (for McDonald, inj. 18 mins), R. Henderson (for Daly, h-t), L. Balsiger (for Scouler, 44), C. Daly (for Morrissey, 52), N. Tallon (for Egan, 68), J. Connolly (for Bolger, 69) and C. Rooney-Digan (for L. Balsiger, 76).
Galwegians: D. Kennedy; O. McKey, C. Brady, S. Mannion, E. Fahey; R. Roche, A. Sherlock; J. Winters, E. Ferry, J. Haugh; G. Alvarez, O. Halpin; L. Angermann, D. Keane, J. Quinn. Replacements used: G. Ukwouma, J. Burke, P. Dolphin, R. Conneely, C. Carruthers and R.F. Cattaneo.
Referee: Shane Touhy.