Buccaneers women mark historic day with touch rugby win

It was a historic day for Buccaneers Touch Rugby on Saturday last with their women's open team playing their first ever senior game against Racoon West. And what an epic encounter it turned out to be with the game going all the way to extra-time and then sudden death.

Buccs were at a disadvantage from the start with a squad of only seven players while Racoon West had a larger squad of ten players. Touch is a six-a-side game which requires constant interchanging to keep players fresh.

The Galway side put Buccs under pressure with their expert 'boxing' move but Buccs held out resolutely. Astonishingly the game was scoreless unless just on half-time, with Racoon West getting the opening score on the buzzer.

The game opened up in the second half and Buccs got level when Aoibhin Tynan got on the end of a scoop by Aoife Purtill. Buccs then hit the front when Aoife touched down off a ‘quickie’ move. Racoon struck back to equalise and they seemed set for victory when they took a 3-2 lead late in the game. However Molly Copelin got on the end of a '32' move to equalise.

The game then went to two minutes of extra time where both sides dropped down to four players. There was no further score so the game then went to 3-a-side sudden death. Astonishingly there was no score for seven more minutes as both defences stymied all attacking opportunities.

Both sides were exhausted at this stage but Buccs summoned enough energy to get up the pitch one last time, Aoife scooped and found Aoibhin to get the winning score, as it finished 4-3 to Buccs. It was a brilliant team performance by all seven players who worked incredibly hard for each other throughout.

Buccs were powered by the experienced and deadly trio of Aoife, Aoibhin and Molly but all the newer players including Maryam and Cayleigh also really stepped up on the day.

Buccaneers women: Aoibhin Tynan, Cayleigh O'Neill, Maryam Adetayo, Alice Behan, Emily Carter, Molly Copelin, Aoife Purtill.

Meanwhile, a mixed open game between the sides followed that and Racoon West got their revenge on Buccs with a 10-4 win. Once again, their powerful boxing move proved difficult to handle. Buccs scorers were Rory Silke (2), Paul Gavin and Nigel So.

Buccaneers mixed team: Paul Gavin, Nigel So, Feidhlim Byrne, Maryam Adetayo, Emily Carter, Rory Silke, Kayleigh O'Neill, Molly Copelin, Alice Behan, Emily Carter, Cooper So.

Buccaneers Touch Rugby Club thanks their good friends in Racoon West for travelling with two teams and in particular to Paddy O'Sullivan, Laura Gaffney and Will Finnegan for refereeing the games so well.