Buccs seconds record hard earned victory

BUCCANEERS RESERVES recorded a hard-earned but justified 22-13 Connacht Junior League win over Our Lady"s Boys Club in Galway on Sunday. This was a tough battle for the Seconds against a Galway outfit who have been enjoying a relatively successful start to the league. Crucially, on this occasion, Buccs began strongly and their hungry attitude meant that a good start was half the battle. The team was more cohesive too and their pack worked their collective socks off to lay the platform for this morale boosting win. With more players now returning to the fold and some with Senior experience making themselves available, Buccs had a lift even before kick off. On a fresh afternoon, they grabbed an early lead with Ian Kilbride finishing off a well-worked backline move that went fully across the pitch for the opening try. Marcus Madden added a penalty to nudge Buccs 8-0 ahead despite losing Benny Gilligan through injury after only 7 minutes. This forced a rejig in the Buccs resources, with U-20 Ger Fallon introduced on the wing, Dec Byrne moving to centre and the versatile Sean Stapleton switching to front row service. OLBC rallied to level matters 8-8 by half-time. Darren Costello marked his return to active duty early in the second half, blocking down an attempted home clearance to gallop through from 35 metres for an opportunist try at the posts which Madden converted. OLBC replied almost immediately with an unconverted try before Mark Bruce capped his outstanding contribution with a darting run to notch Buccs" third try which Madden also converted to complete the winning 22-13 scoreline. Brendan McManus was magnificent in the forwards battle, receiving top class support from Colin Watters, young Lorcan Walsh and Greg McGill. Bruce ran the show at scrum-half with able support from his halfback partner Costello. This was more like it from Buccaneers whose battling qualities finally came to the fore. They did lose too much ruck ball but, overall, there is now a nucleus of quality, experience and commitment in this squad that can propel them out of the relegation mire. BUCCANEERS: C. Lavelle; M. Kilduff, I. Kilbride, S. Stapleton, D. Byrne; D. Costello, M. Bruce; B. Gilligan, M.Madden, G.McGill; J. Tormey, B. McManus; C. Watters, D. Ryan and L. Walsh. Replacement:- G. Fallon (for Gilligan, inj. 7 mins).