The Connemara All-Blacks brought the curtain down on their season with a historic victory in the Connacht Senior Cup when they beat Buccaneers 21-10 in Crowley Park.
The Connemara All-Blacks brought the curtain down on their season with a historic victory in the Connacht Senior Cup when they beat Buccaneers 21-10 in Crowley Park. The men from the parish next door to New York, soaked up early presure from the Division One side, led 16-0 at the break and then sealed the outcome with a 54th minute try from Bernard Keaney.
Buccaneers fielded a side that included just two contracted players – Ted Robinson and Ronan McCormack with ten of the starting line-up drawn from their Under 20 and 21 ranks. They enjoyed the better of the exchanges in the opening quarter although Mark Foyle gave the eventual winners the lead with a penalty after 15 minutes.
It took Connemara just over 25 minutes to get into their opponents 22 but when they did they made an impression on their first visit with a try from Noel King.
Foyle converted and added two penalties to put his side 16 points clear at the interval.
Replacement out-half, Damien Hunt gave Buccs some hope with a penalty shortly after the restart but Keaney’s try minutes later, ended that hope and the try that came from Niall O’Hara arrived at a time when the Blacks already had one hand on the cup.
Connemara. M Walsh; N King, B Sexton, P O’Neill, O’Toole, M Foyle; C Dolan, F Wood; T King, G King, F Madden, K Keogh, N Walsh, B Keaney, O Delapp.
Replacements: G Burke for T King (9 mins).
Buccaneers. J Meagher; A Downey, P O’Sullivan, N O’Hara, S Meagher; D Connellan, T Robinson; A Nash, M Madden, R McCormack, N Smullen, J Tormey, MJ Hillhouse, R O’Toole, G Kenny.
Replacements: D Hunt for Connellan (44 mins), D Kelly for Hillhouse (62 mins).
Referee: D Fahy (Connacht).
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