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By Thomas O’Neill (Buccaneers RFC Youths PRO)
The Buccaneers U17s are four-in-a-row league champions having gone through the league unbeaten.
The trophy was presented by Brian O'Beirne (Sen. Vice President of Connacht Rugby) on the main pitch in Dubarry Park following their last game of the season against Loughrea.
The final score was 34-0 to Buccs with the six tries coming from Adam Murtagh, Jenson Nagle, Darren Browne, Mathias O' Neilll and Dara Mulvihill with one conversion each for Nathan Horan and Adam Murtagh.
Front Row: Jenson Nagle, Adam Murtagh, Rory Dempsey, (Connacht Rep), Nathan Horan(C), Darren Browne, Cian Daly, Jack Dempsey, Harry Steward.
Second Row: Mathias O'Neill, Joe Reidy, Kevin Maloney, Liam Doyle, Fergus Galvin, James Downes, James Finlass, James Kelly Third Row L-R Robert Lowe, Cathal O' Grady, Dara Mulvihill, Keelan Connolly, Mark Tallon, Daniel Ennis
Back Row: L-R Joe Burke, Roan Byrne, Cian McGuinness, Jason Conway, Arron Fuchs, Connor Rohan
U15s: Galwegians 29-19 Buccaneers – Crowley Park, Galway
In their final league match of the season, the visiting Buccaneers team made a slow start and too many missed tackles gifted the bigger home team with four tries. However, as the half continued, the Pirates upped their effort and were rewarded with a try by Jack Norton converted by Ruairi Fallon following a penalty move by Joe Wenson.
The second half saw a much improved Buccs assert themselves on the Wegians team, outscoring them by two tries to one again from the hands of captain Jack Norton assisted by centre Diarmuid Carey.
While this Buccaneers U15 team struggled at the start of the league, finding it difficult to get scores on the board, they have regained their composure and confidence with the aid of coaches Damian Shine, Niall Daly and joined recently by Kolo Kiripati (captain of Buccaneers’ senior team). This resulted in a very credible 29-19 defeat where they displayed their real potential in attack, keeping their opponents under pressure throughout.
Players that impressed were Joe Henson, Koronato Kiripati, Jack Norton (C), Adam Flanagan, Nataniel O’ Neill and Diarmuid Carey.
