Mullingar Senior Women six try haul in first preseason outing.

Mullingar 34 – Buccaneers 5

The Mullingar Women showed that the hard yards put in at training both in the gym and on the pitch this summer was well worth the effort with a fine win against a determined Buccaneers side. Although the scoreline reflects a comfortable afternoon at the office for the Heifers it has to be said that for large parts of the match they had to work very hard to breakdown the Athlone side.

Introducing some new blood & welcoming back some old faces, the reigning double Leinster champions took to the new pitch at Shay Murtagh Park with the intention of picking up where they left off last season and took to their task with grit and determination from the kick off.

In the first quarter the two packs mixed it evenly in scrum and lineout however in the 18^th minute the more mobile Mullingar unit began to get the upper hand and began to dominate at the ruck and maul putting the Buccs on the back foot. The first score came from fast, clean ball presented by the hard working Jenny Gibson and Clare O’Brien to release the Mullingar backs. Celine Butler making a welcome return to the side had shown from the early stages of the match that she was going to be a handful beat her opposite number to release Olive Butler who in turn made a timely pass to the oncoming Niamh Kennedy whose direct running from full back tore through the defence and despite being on the receiving end of a heavy tackle managed to touch down to open the Heifers account for the season. A difficult conversion was just left for Ellen Taite

It only took a further 2 minutes before the talented Siofra Molly also returning to the herd this season took on the Buccs defence and won, scoring a fine try, once again the boot of Taite was just wide.

The rest of the half was played out by both sides trading possession and territory.

The Buccaneers Women were not going to roll over and started the second half catching the heifers on the hop to score a quick try in only the second minute, 10-5 to the home side. This went unconverted and was the catalyst for the Mullingar Women to step it up and take control which they duly did.

A few positional changes most notably at scrum half with Sinead Holmes and Sarah Murphy trading places took till the tenth minute of the half for the talented Murphy to torment the Buccs winger by showing great pace to score the first of what could have been her hat trick in just a 30 minute spell. 15-5.

At this point the hard working Tracy Talbot Adrienne Andrews and Claire Farrelly had the better of the front row battle and had worn down the shannonsiders unit. The defence had been shored up with the hard working Kerri O’Reilly & Aoife Hynes knocking down everything which allowed the Heifers the ball to run at will.

With 18 minutes remaining two members of the Connacht Women’s interprovincial side entered the fray, one on either side and fresh from yesterday’s victory over Ulster, Clodagh Cleary had enough in the tank to be on the end of another fine line break and pass by Celine Butler to go over under the posts, this was duly converted by Ellen to extend Mullingar’s lead 22-5.

Now dominating territory the Heifers refused to let the Buccaneers back into the game with some fine attacks from Kate Brennan on the wing, Celine and Olive in the Centre and Niamh constantly sniping at their opposite numbers, the pressure told and Buccaneers cracked 30 meters from their line for young Sarah Murphy to pounce on a loose ball and showing great pace outstripped the defence to score in the corner, this went unconverted. 27-5

In total control at this point it was only a matter of time before the Heifers scored again and this they duly did with 5 minutes remaining when Clodagh Cleary collected her second try with a powerful run through three tacklers to touch down under the posts, converted by Ellen Taite to leave the final score Mullingar 34-5 Buccaneers.

Head Coach Dave Farrelly was pleased with the outcome suggesting that a 6 try win at this point of the season was a very encouraging start.

Team: Niamh Kennedy, Kate Brennan, Sinead Holmes, Celine Butler, Olive Butler, Ellen Taite, Sarah Murphy, Siofra Molloy, Clare O’Brien, Aoife Hynes, Kerri O’Reilly, Jenny Gibson, Tracy Talbot, Adrienne Andrews, Claire Farrelly, Clodagh Cleary