Seniors Dig deep to defeat Thomond UBL Rnd 11

UBL Round 11

Liam Fitzgerald Park was the venue on Friday night for the meeting of Bruff and Thomond in Round 11 of the Ulster bank league. It was a historic night for Thomond who were playing their first ever home game under newly constructed lights and great credit goes to all involved for getting the project completed. The lights are a great addition to the recently refurbished club house and dressing rooms and we wish Thomond the best for the future, no doubt the additional facilities will be a great attraction for generations to come.

It was a testing night for rugby with Bruff playing into a stiff breeze in the opening half. It was also a very wet night making it difficult for either team to get any sort of a running game going. It was Bruff who were first off the mark kicking a penalty from the boot of Seanie Herlihy after 10 minutes. Herlihy added a second after 23 minutes to make it 6-0 to Bruff. Thomond responded with a try from David O Halloran after 26 minutes which was converted by Evan Cusack to make it 7-6 to the home side.

But it was Bruff who went into the half time break in the lead thanks to a great individual try for winger Mark Cosgrove just a few minutes after Thomond had taken the lead. The conversion just fell short and it remained 11-7 to Bruff until 46^th minute

Bruff now had the advantage of the wind and in fairness played the conditions well, keeping Thomond pinned inside their own half for most of the second period. Thomond picked up a penalty early into the half but this was to be the only score of the half. Bruff were made to defend for the closing stages of the game but they were equal to the task and kept the Thomond attack at bay to close out the game for the 11-10 victory.

The win moves Bruff into 4^th on the table with Thomond still in 2^nd.

Next up for Bruff is 3^rd placed Malahide on the 27^th of January at home in Kilballyowen.

Bruff Team: 15 David O Grady 14 Graham Whelan 13 Mike O Grady 12 Jack O Grady 11 Mark Cosgrove 10 Tony Cahill 9 Sean Herlihy 8 Liam O Dwyer 7 John Clery 6 Cillian Rea 5 Tadgh O Dwyer 4 Sean Hartigan 3 Brendan Keogh 2 John Hogan 1 David Horan 16 Eamon Cooke 17 Tom O Dwyer 18 Ordhan Ring 19 Sean Darcy 20 Cian Clifford

Other Results,

U14’s won 29-15 away to Garryowen

U13’s lost 5-3 away to Shannon