U14 Girls 29 – Buccaneers 26

The much anticipated final game of the season saw our girls take the field against old rivals Buccaneers to decide who was taking the Connacht Shield home for 2025.

Buccs having beaten us in the opening round of the the league and just missing out on a cup semi final place were going to be a significant challenge. This became evident in the opening moments, with Buccs blitzing us with 3 unanswered try's in 15 minutes!

We were just unable to get our hands one the ball until Peace made a fantastic carry catching the Buccs girls off guard and running under the posts. This gave us an opportunity to get back into the game, which we did.

Buccs had to kick back to us and we were able to keep the ball and work back up into a scoring position, the Corwegians forwards drove with their best move of the season, a final carry from Caoimhe Madden got us over the line and Olivia added the extras. Having missed some game time due to her Galway football commitments Torai began finding some form, and managed to get across the line with another score before half time. For the final minutes of the half our forwards led by a stunning performance from Captain Michaela kept the Buccs team scoreless. At the half time whistle Buccs led 21-19.

The second half proved to be an absolute nail bitter. An opening try from the the prolific Caoimhe Hayes and Torai completing the conversion put us into the lead. The ball went up and down the pitch with both teams giving it 120%, but neither able to break the deadlock. Peace nearly had a 50m dash to score but was pulled down just short of the line...

Buccs then broke through to score with 5 minutes to go, their outside center took the ball from deep and was able to handoff our defenders and crash over the line. Two of our backs of Erin and Oliva were able to force her wide making the conversion difficult. This proved to be a real benefit as their Out-half was unable to convert despite having two attempts at scoring.

With 3 minutes to go the girls were 2 points down and Buccs had possession. We had to turn the ball over! Defense was ruthless and Buccs couldn't get any forward ball, eventually knocking on and we were awarded a scrum just inside the Buccs half.

The plan was simple get the ball wide. Which we did. Torai running in the try from deep with Caoimhe Hayes in support on her shoulder ensuring support if needed! We were not able to convert but it didn't matter Corinthians-Galwegians had taken the Shield 29 points to 26.

A fantastic result particularly for the girls who missed out in the shield last year. Well done to all the Girls, coaches and parents.