Late Boland try sees Buccs win battle with Clontarf

A CALLUM BOLAND TRY two minutes from the end of normal time earned BUCCANEERS a gripping 11-6 Ulster Bank League victory over leaders Clontarf in a top of the table Division 1B clash at Dubarry Park, Athlone, on Saturday. Buccs were full value for this vital win as they stepped up further on last week's impressive showing with another well-balanced and sustained team effort. On a damp afternoon, both sides fielded close to full strength for this pivotal encounter, sponsored by The Bounty Bar & Restaurant, with Aidan Wynne's return in the centre being Buccs only change from last week's big win over Bruff while Martin Dufficy was at standoff for the visitors with usual incumbent Noel Reid moving to full-back at the exclusion of Darragh O'Shea. The midlanders (for various reasons) had seven fresh starters on this occasion while Clontarf had only three changes in personnel from the early season clash at Castle Avenue. Buccs were surprisingly dominant in the opening quarter but had only a 3-0 cushion to show for this superiority. Adam Kennedy missed two early, not easy but kickable, place-kicks before he opened the scoring with a 10th minute penalty, after Dufficy's jersey tug off the ball denied Clifford Richardson a clear run at the loose ball when a try chance was a real possibility for the homesters. Referee Alan Rogan was content to lecture the visiting out-half and deemed the penalty sufficient punishment. Reid, selected for his place-kicking ability, was found wanting after 25 minutes when his penalty attempt was wide and he was short one minute before the break after Buccs had been tempted offside. In the interim in a terrific battle between two packs unwilling to yield a centimetre, it took Clontarf until the 34th minute to get into the home 22. Then the midlanders had to defend vigorously to protect their tenuous 3-0 advantage to half-time. Chances were few and far between with Jack Carty's tactical kicking a feature of the whole match. Reid, who missed four out of six kicks at goal overall, opened the metropolitans account with a penalty just two minutes after the restart when Buccs infringed at a scrum but the Athlone outfit responded with a 50th minute Kennedy penalty to regain the lead after Carty had been narrowly wide with a drop goal attempt as the referee played advantage for the Pirates. The visitors introduced the experienced Darragh O'Shea in place of Dufficy on 53 minutes with Reid switching to out-half. Reid was then wide twice in quick succession as Buccs coughed up penalties a bit too readily. In a fiercely competitive encounter, Clontarf were very fortunate that Barry O'Mahony's injudicious use of his elbow as Kennedy endeavoured to retrieve the ball was not treated more severely by the referee than awarding a penalty to the home side after 57 minutes. Just one minute later, teenager Carty carved open the Clontarf defence with a searing break but he had absolutely no support to finish off a rare try chance in this tight, unrelenting battle as Buccs matched Clontarf physically, some thundering tackles throughout by Kolo Kiripati epitomising Buccaneers' steel. The leaders eventually got some momentum through their forwards in the final quarter and forced the hosts to committed defence for a period, but Reid was profligate yet again with a 62nd minute penalty. Then Richardson was yellow carded for persistent offside (something which one experienced visiting lock got away with through virtually all the game!) by Buccs and Reid levelled the scores 6-6 with the resultant 68th minute penalty. However, five minutes later Clontarf too had a player in the sin-bin when Martin Garvey cynically obstructed 'Athlone Springs Hotel Man of the Match' Carty as the young out-half chased his own kick ahead. Buccs promptly regained the initiative and demonstrated that they too could pick and drive highly effectively to set up a grandstand finish. Marcus Madden replaced Colin Watters, who had as always given his all, and the midlanders piled forward, stretching Clontarf, before Shane Monahan found Boland with a sublime precise crossfield kick enabling the home winger to dive over for the vital try on 78 minutes. Although Kennedy was unable to convert from the right touchline, Buccaneers had laid down a marker with this crunch 11-6 victory that sees them close in to just two points adrift of Clontarf, who picked up a losing bonus point. But Buccs have a game in hand and there is now a ten points gap between them and third placed Lansdowne. This was a sterling, focused and sustained performance by Buccaneers in another wonderful all-round team effort. Carty belied his inexperience at this level with some adroit kicking particularly with ball in hand. Monahan was immense and looked the most likely to get in for a try and it was fitting that he was the creator of Boland's decisive try. The home forwards were magnificent both individually and collectively with Martin Staunton putting a serious shift. Padraic de Burca was prominent in the line-outs and the back row trio did tons of damage, Kiripati most notably. Clontarf huffed and puffed but never got - or rather were never let - get a head of real steam going as Buccs were better equipped and organised to deal with their firepower on this occasion. Footnote Disappointingly, this was possibly the smallest crowd of the season at Dubarry Park and again the decision by the IRFU to schedule club league matches in direct competition with Ireland's opening match in the RBS Six Nations Championship beggars belief. The stand was about quarter full with only a sprinkling on the terraces when the majority opted for home comforts in front of a TV on a wet afternoon to watch the international game. If you could score an own goal in rugby, this was another howler from the IRFU following on from the Autumn Internationals ticketing debacle. BUCCANEERS: J.O'Brien; C.Boland, P.Harte, A.Wynne, S.Monahan; J.Carty, A.Kennedy; M.Staunton, G.Halligan (captain), C.Higgins; C.Richardson, P. de Burca; S.Burke, C.Watters and K.Kiripati. Replacement used:- M.Madden (for Watters, 75 mins). CLONTARF: N.Reid; M.McGrath, K.Lett, E.Ryan, M.Keating; M.Dufficy, S.Cronin; C.Kavanagh, A.Dundon, N.Treston (captain); B.Gissing, C.O'Keeffe; E.Cremen, B.O'Mahony and M.Garvey. Replacements used:- D.O'Shea (for Dufficy, 53 mins), J.Harris-Wright (for Cremen, 70 mins) and C.O'Shea (for McGrath, inj. 78 mins). REFEREE: A.Rogan. (Leinster).