Buccs strive to

Buccaneers travel to Dublin on Saturday to face Clontarf at Castle Avenue in Division One of the AIB League (kick-off: 2.30pm). The northside club is still very much in contention for a Top Four berth, currently lying in sixth position within three points of second placed Blackrock College. They will also be smarting from their AIB Cup elimination at the hands of Buccaneers earlier in the season so will be striving to maintain their 100 per cent success rate at home over the midlanders. Niall O"Brien (who seems to score in every match against Buccs), Daragh O"Shea, Paul O"Donohue, Max Rantz-McDonald and Peter O"Brien are enterprising and energetic backs for "Tarf. But Clontarf traditionally look to their forwards to dominate and here Simon Crawford, Ben Focas, Adrian Clarke and Niall Treston will be endeavouring to impose themselves on their opponents. However, Buccaneers proved in that Cup upset that they can front up when interested and organised. Kolo Kiripati had one of his best outings until injured in that game, while Kieran O"Gorman thrived in the tough exchanges as did Kevin Moran. Michael Diffley, Adrian Hanley, and either Marcus Madden or Garreth Halligan are all well capable of taking the battle to Clontarf. Clifford Richardson will surely have benefited from an extra few weeks training since the St. Mary"s fixture and he could team up at lock with James Tormey or David Gannon, if available. Colin Watters and Benny Gilligan too would surely relish to tackle Clontarf. In the backline, Buccs could do with assistance from Connacht and here Danny Riordan and Conor O"Loughlin would greatly improve the midlanders" options if both were made available. Alan Gaughan must nail whatever placekicks come his way while Sean Carey, Mark Bruce and Paul Bruce will surely benefit from the firmer ground. Alex Hayman and Simon Rolleston will offer stiff resistance in their defensive duties, while skipper Niall O"Hara is likely to return at full-back, particularly if John O"Brien is on duty with the U-20s. Buccaneers may need another win or two to be absolutely sure of avoiding a relegation dogfight and, to prevail, they must battle to the bitter end with disciplined aggression and focus. Clontarf too have plenty to play for, so it promises to be fairly competitive fare on Saturday.