Club notes W/E 6th March

UBL Division 2C Bruff Vs Navan,

With only two games remaining in the league nearly every team in Division 2C has something to play for.  The Top five teams can still have a say in the promotion race, while the bottom 4 teams are battling relegation. All of these factors are going to make for a very interesting conclusion to the season.

Bruff took a major step in trying to secure a play-off place on Saturday afternoon recording a 26-15 win over visiting Navan. The reverse fixture in September was a tight affair with Bruff coming out on top thanks to a late try from Brian Cahill, which Tony Cahill converted.

Navan lead 6-12 at half time on Saturday scoring trys on twenty and thirty eighth minutes, while Bruff had two penalties from the boot of Deccie Bannon after ten and twenty five minutes.

Bruff were aided by a strong breeze in the second half and reduced the lead further to 9-12 shortly after half time with a third Deccie Bannon Penalty. On fifty minutes Bruff made a number of changes to freshen things up and it was substitute Danny Keogh who scored the first of Bruff’s three second half tries. Keogh picked the ball up around the Navan 10 metre line and made a break which he’ll remember for some time to come beating three defenders on this way to scoring in the corner. Keogh has made a name for himself as being one of the best tacklers and ball carriers in the club but this try showed that’s he’s got another string to his bow. Bruff now lead 14-12 but Navan regained the lead shortly after with a penalty to make it 14-15. The Bruff backs have produced the majority of this seasons tries but it was the forwards who took over the duties on Saturday. Bruff we awarded a string of penalties in the Navan 22 which lead to Bruff having a number of lineouts in corner. Bruff won a good ball at the back and the resulting drive ended with Brian Morissey touching down for the second of Bruff’s tries which Deccie converted to make it 21-15. Try number three came with only a few minutes remaining and again it was Danny Keogh who got the touch down from another Bruff lineout maul close to the Navan line.

With Wanderers losing to Midleton in Dublin at the weekend the result moves Bruff into third position with just the two games remaining away to Tullamore on the 26^th of March and Home to Dundalk on the 2^nd of April.

Bruff Team : 1.Dave Horan 2.Johnny Hogan 3. Keith Laffan 4.Neilus Keogh 5.Brian Morissey 6.Cillian Rea 7.Mikey Carroll 8.Paddy Clery 9.Davy O Grady 10.Tony Cahill 11. Paidi Kilcoyne 12. Sean Darcy 13.Declan Bannon 14.Barry Enright 15. Brendan Deady 16. Keith Laffan 17. Danny Keogh 18. Barry Laffan 19 Graham Whelan 20 Mark Cosgrove

Munster semi Final Action for u16’s and u18’s

Both the U16’s and u18’s were in action in the semi-finals of the pan Munster competitions at the weekend.

It was the u16’s who were first up when they travelled to Bandon on Saturday. Bruff had come through a tough test beating Midleton 16-12 in the Quarter final and knew that Saturday’s game would be tight. Bandon like Bruff have produced some very competitive underage teams over the last few years and they are now reaping the rewards with their Junior team sitting on top on the Munster Junior league.

Unfortunately the game ended in the narrowest of defeats for Bruff going down 3-nil to the west cork side.  Well done to all involved for getting this far, they now have some local cup competitions to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Team : 1 Fionn Flanagan 2 John Sheehan 3 Kieran O Dwyer 4 Eoin Cronin 5 Craig Ryan 6 Darragh O Connell 7 Pa Maher 8 Dylan O Leary 9 Pa Lloyd 10 Gerard Dunworth 11 Evan Hudner 12 Adam O Dwyer 13 William Carroll 14 Dylan O Shea 15 Joe Johnston 16 Eli Whelan 17 Jack Keogh 18 Sean Reeves Wasik 19 Ethan Butler 20 Niall Mitchell 21 Alan Hanley

The u18’s had a better result reaching a Munster final for the third year in a row after beating Dolphin 5-0 in another tight game in Bruff on Sunday. The game was played in poor conditions on a heavy pitch which wasn’t helped by a two hour downpour prior to kick off. Both teams missed a number of chances in the opening half which resulted in a 0-0 half time score-line.

Is wasn’t until the 43^rd minute that the game winning score came. Bruff attacked the right hand side of the Dolphin 22 through the pack before moving the ball all the way to the left, for wing Dean O Shea to score in the corner. Both team battled hard for the remainder of the game but Bruff’s experience was enough to see them through to the St Patricks day decider which is scheduled to be played on the main pitch in Thomond Park Vs the winners of Waterpark and Dungarvan

Team :1 Dave Barrett 2 Thomas Quigley 3 Jack Fitzgerald 4 Daniel O Shea 5 Tadgh O Dwyer 6 Ferghal Cooke 7 Paul Tracey 8 Simon Divilly 9 Cian Clifford 10 John Bateman 11 Dean O Shea 12 Liam Barrett 13 Mikey O Grady 14 John Bulfin 15 Mattew Lockhart O Dea 16 Cormac Daly 17 Joseph O Connell 18 James Hanly 19 Liam Cunningham 20 Stephen Dunworth 21 Richard Bateman 22 Jason Fitzgibbon 23 Callum Winship