Following the tougher than it should have been 15-11 victory over the Nearest and dearest of our local rivals, here’s what the IRFU and RTE had to say on their sites (Mind you they have confused poor old Máirtín with Brian Cahill as regards the second try) :

OLD CRESCENT 11 BRUFF 15, Rosbrien Scorers: Old Crescent: Try: Trevor Bowles; Pens: Brian O’Shea, JP Hartigan
Bruff: Tries: Finbarr Hogan, Martin O’Rourke; Con: David Maw; Pen: David Maw
HT: Old Crescent 3 Bruff 15

Bruff made a whirlwind start against Old Crescent at Rosbrien and raced into a 15-0 lead before the home side improved in the second half.

Speedster Finbarr Hogan raced in for Bruff’s opening try after 12 minutes. David Maw added a penalty, five minutes later.

In what was all one-way traffic, Martin O’Rourke had a second Bruff try which Maw converted.

Brian O’Shea gave Old Crescent hope with a second half penalty and JP Hartigan had another penalty.

When Trevor Bowles got in for a try for Old Crescent, it set up this Limerick derby for a grandstand finish.

But of these Division Two rivals, Bruff were the ones to hold their nerve and progress to the next round.

Click here for the photos.

I went out earlier today to have what could be one of the final looks at the stadium during the construction stage at the rate that building is ploughing ahead. Having read the piece in the Sunday World last week about how construction is going ahead on time and on budget compared to Landsdowne Road I had to have a look. As an aside, while reading the piece I had to do a double take, I could not believe my eyes, but there it was, stuck in the middle of a piece about a rugby stadium we had the stereotypical Dublin Journalist lazy reporting job that seems to appear in absolutely anything that may in some way be related to Limerick ” A city dogged by gangland killings trying to improve it’s image”. FOR Gods sake lads, can ye not just stop trying to deflect the fact that it’s bloody downright dangerous from all points of view to be living in Dublin compared to almost anywhere else in the country? How on gods earth has a rugby stadium got absolutely anything to do with Gangs?

Shane, you’re a tosspot. And you’ve just managed to lose a reader that had returned (Albeit briefly) after not bothering with your rag for many years, I’m glad to say I will return to another read on a Sunday Morning.

Anyways after that rant about lazy Reporting by the gutter press:

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Well, What a weekend.

I can honestly say that it was the best Bull N Booze tag festival to date. It kicked off on Friday with the Heineken Cup and John Hayes for the Presentation of some crystal ware and a plaque to George Clancy by his Uncle Jack in honour of his gaining IRB Elite International referee status . George then presented the club with his first Full IRB jersey as an elite referee gained in the game between South Africa and England a month ago. There were campers from Clonmel, Clare, Dublin, Limerick and Rochdale Swarm (Who have sworn to make this a yearly pilgrimage after the good time they had.) A fantastic night in Jack Clancy’s coupled with brilliant food, good music and flowing drink meant that some of the players had to be out early in the morning to blow off the cobwebs before the kickoff on Saturday.

The good weather coupled with very lively and sporting teams conspired to give us one of the best competitions to date. Even though team numbers were a little down with a few people crying off, twenty teams from all over the country and beyond played off for cups and medals in four different categories. Lucozade Sport Roadshow was on site for anyone who wanted to be tested and compare their fitness against the Professionals, The Bucking Bronco went down a treat for those willing to test their balance and bull handling after the ball handling.

The Sumo Suits caused a little bit of uproar (Well done to 3rds team Captain, Shamy Sheehan, who just couldn’t handle 1st XV Coach Eoin in the finish ? ). After that and a little break due to the only shower of the day, the competitions finished off with the following teams grabbing the silverware on offer:

B Cup – Mud Stuffins
B Plate – Running Wild

C Cup – Chariots of Fire!!
C Plate – The Lyrics Board Champions 1999

Many thanks to John Hayes and his good lady Fiona for their time over the weekend between posing for photos and taking the time out on Friday for the presentations then to come back to present the prizes again on Saturday night. In the midst of all that, John Presented Bruff with his very first international Jersey which will take pride of place on the clubhouse wall. After the prize-giving Willie Conway handed over the traditional first visit plaque to Rochdale who then returned the favour with a Rochdale Hornets Jersey and Pennant, Rosie Foley brought her “Beal Boru” Team from Killaloe, we had the Band “Intrigue” who were absolutely fantastic (Watch these guys folks, they’re really going places, and you saw them here first) and kept the crowd going well into the night. This was followed by the disco, the obligatory singsong (with Ray O’ Brien on the guitar) outside in the torchlight until god knows what hour of the morning, and camping with over sixty tents in the grounds. After finally surfacing and having breakfast the following day they eventually made their way home after some chill out time in the clubhouse in the afternoon.

Again well done to the “Burger Babes” and the bar staff who managed to keep everyone fed and “Watered” , Gráinne and Dave for a great event, and to the referees especially our own who kept the competition going in military fashion. I’m still knackered, but we’re already getting some great feedback and we’re thinking about next season’s event, we want to make it even bigger and better. If you couldn’t make it, it’s a pity, you missed one hell of a weekend’s party, well there’s always next year. That’s the end of the Tag for this season until next spring’s “Twilight Tag” league so well done to all involved. It’s time now to prepare for the return of the Full on Stuff…

Next Committee meeting on Monday 11th August, We all need a bit of a break after this.

Now to the photos:

CLICK HERE for the Friday night photos and some game shots

CLICK HERE for more Photos by Declan Hehir on Saturday.

I was playing around with this idea and took some photos of locations in Cardiff with the intention of turning them into Panorama type pictures. I’ve put two of these together so click on them and let me know what you think.

P.S. I’ve kept the pics low res for bandwidth reasons but I am willing to do prints (if anyone wants them), the finished print of the stadium is 6″ high by 24″ wide. If anyone would like to buy one I’ll do a deal depending on whether you would like a canvas print or photo paper.

Oh GOD,

Now for someone of my ilk, who doesn’t drink a pint, you might say that Thursday to Tuesday in Cardiff at the Heineken Cup Final between Beautiful beautiful Munster and the French artisans Toulouse would be torture, I’m not going to lie to you, it was, but torture of the sweetest kind.

That town welcomes us with open arms, it changes the names of the pubs for us, it opens apartments, clubs, pubs, streets, closes main streets to allow the Munster throng to walk as they like, it does all it can to facilitate what must be the most fabulous battalions of supporters the world is ever likely to see.

We danced, we sang, we screamed, we roared, we cried and we hugged Kilfeacle lads, Muskerry lads, Nenagh lads, the usual “Auld Enemies” from the north, south, east and west, from Leinster, Ulster, Wales, Connacht, London, Leicester, Scottish Borders, Wasps but for this one solitary weekend we all had only one thing on our mind, Munster, Glorious, Glorious Munster (To paraphrase Ryall Nugent).

I’m not going to try and emulate the many, many brilliant pieces that have been writen over the last few days, it would a pointless waste of time and it wouldn’t do them all justice. Arriving into Birmingham Airport (I know, don’t ask) last night we were cheered at times by ordinary everyday folk going about their business but seeing the jerseys “On Tour”. The word has spread.

We spent Two hours in the Munster tent with guys who had put body and soul into the previous hour and a half of trench warfare and they still, still couldn’t believe what had just taken place less than 200 metres from where they stood. Rua Tipoki and Dougie Howlett turned to me after posing for a photo and Rua said said, “It was ye, your voice is gone, we weren’t running on the pitch, we were walking about three feet off the ground, You all did it, we just were the twenty-two on the grass”. Ad further homage from a man who is carrying the record for the highest tries scored in the Super League, His parting shot as he turned around to sign another tee shirt and stand for another photo was ” The All-black or NPC supporters were never like this”

Anyway onto the photos….. The ones I took at least. I’ll have a link up to Johnny Hogans and Bocks stuff later on today.

Be warned!! there’s a load of photos here 🙂 If you’re not on Broadband it will kill your computer…..

Bruff Rugby Football Club

Old Crescent V Bruff, AIB Cup (Photos as well).

Click here for the photos.

Thomond Park Photos-July

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Panoramic Photos of Cardiff.