Bruff Rugby Football Club

The first XV won the clubs first Senior Cup today beating U.L. Bohemians by 16 – 15 in Dooradoyle. U.L. Bohs started the game very well with a second minute try converted to put them up by Seven points, followed ten minutes later by a penalty to give them a 10-0 lead. Following this penalty the Bruff pack dominated exchanges in the tight and their back row and half back and centre combinations made serious ground in the tight. The Bruff squad failed however to convert possession to scores and the remainder of the first half was played within the U.L. Bohs side of the pitch despite them having a strongish breeze at their backs.

The second half opened with Bruff resuming where they left off but after a boisterous first ten minutes U.L. Bohs managed to get themselves into the Bruff side of the field but not managing to convert this dominance to points. At one stage Bruff were down to fourteen men following the binning of James Taylor but again Bohs failed to gain any major advantage. Midway in the second half saw the resurrection of the dominance of the Bruff pack and midfield with Full back Brendan Deady finally going over for Bruff’s Try after a sustained period of attack. The extras were added by Brian Cahill. U. L Bohs replied with a try to leave the score at 15 – 10.

Known always as a great second half team, what followed was probably one of the best performances that I have ever seen from a Bruff side. Strong running from the pack in the tight with Martin O’ Rourke back to his very best, hard Line breaking from Eoin and Badger in midfield, the sustained continuous pressure resulted in two further penalties for Bruff all converted by Brian Cahill. Some fabulous defending under pressure from all and Paul O’ Brien’s hard hitting tackles saving the day on the wing, all resulted with Bruff finishing much stronger than the opposition and unlucky not to put another try or two on the U.L. Bohs side before the finish. Overall a great performance and a well deserved win for Bruff. It augurs well for the rest of the season to have taken out Young Munster from Div. 2 in the Semi-final and to take one of the top 4 Div. 1 sides in the final. We really need to get out of Div. Three. Roll it on boys, Roll it on.

I’ll get some photos up before the night is over, depending on how the celebrations go.