NUIG were crowned Connacht Women’s Cup champions on Sunday after a 39-0 win over Buccaneers. The league champions always looked in control as they ran in seven tries. Two came in the opening 10 minutes as Karen Douglas and Shannen Lane crossed over for a 10-0 lead.
Two further tries and a conversion before the break brought the score up to 22-0, and even though Buccaneers started to grow in the game as it went on, they were unable to get on the scoresheet before the half-time whistle.
MATCH REPORT | Wins for @NUIGRugby and @RFCCastlebar on Women's Finals Day at the Sportsground https://t.co/TlU5jLNFbe pic.twitter.com/MwHmmHsv3n
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) April 3, 2018
That pressure from Buccaneers continued at the start of the second half, but any hope of an improbable comeback was ended when Amanda Forde touched down for NUIG’s fifth try 10 minutes into the second half.
From then on it was a case of the college seeing out the game, and they crossed over twice more to finish up as 39-0 winners. While Bucs can consider themselves unlucky not to put points on the board there was little doubt that NUIG were deserving winners.
FULL-TIME: NUIG 39 Buccaneers 0. @NUIGRugby claim the Connacht Women's Cup in convincing fashion with a seven try victory #WomensCupFinal #GrassrootsToGreenShirts pic.twitter.com/bWR3b2eaBm
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) April 1, 2018
Tuam/Galwegians suffered defeat in the Connacht Women’s Plate final beforehand as Castlebar won a 12-try thriller by 54-22. The Galway side led 12-0 thanks to Amanda Kelly and Andrea Donnellan – the second of which was converted by Emma Keane.
FULL-TIME: Tuam/Galwegians 22 Castlebar 54. The Mayo side win the #WomensPlateFinal with Ursula Sammon contributing a brilliant five tries #GrassrootsToGreenShirts pic.twitter.com/il1XorHQHi
— Connacht Rugby (@connachtrugby) April 1, 2018
Sarah Walsh opened for Castlebar before Ursula Sammon touched down three times as the Mayo team went 26-12 up at half-time.
Tuam/Galwegians crossed over twice more within 10 minutes of the restart through Deirdre Morney and Cathriona Kavanagh. However, the rest of the game was dominated by Castlebar as they scored 28 unanswered points as Sammon and Darwyn O’Halloran ran in two tries each.
