UBL débutante Tom O Dwyer
Ninth placed Wanderers were the visitors to Kilballyowen on Saturday for round 7 of the UBL. Only 3 points separated the teams going into the game with Bruff lying in 6th place
Things didn’t start well for Bruff and we were down by a try from winger Kelvin Leahy after 6 mins. Wanderers dominated possession and territory from the restart and the pressure told as Bruff picked up 2 yellow cards during the first half. Wanderers took full advantage and scored 2 more trys before the H/T whistle from Eoin O Donnell and Robert Clune which they converted to make the score 0-19 at the break.
With Wanderers now in the hunt for a try bonus Bruff had to regroup and refocus at half time.
Bruff came out fighting from the restart and got on the score board after 54 mins with a penalty from Declan Bannon. Bruff attacked in wave after wave but found it hard to break down the Wanderers defence. It wasn’t until the final play of the game that Bruff scored again, a try in the corner for winger Paidi Kilcoyne which was converted by Bannon. The game finished on a scoreline of 10-19 to the visitors.
Bruff had the better of the second half in terms of field position and possession and had it not been for a few uncharacteristic knock-on’s and dropped balls Bruff could have got more from the game.
Up until Saturday Bruff have had consistency in team selection but selection was badly hampered going into the game due to a number of injury’s and work commitments.
The new guys that came in gave good accounts of themselves and can feel confident going into next weekend’s game away to Sligo.
Team was: 1.Davie Horan 2. Timmy Quirke 3. Stephen Foster 22.Barry Laffan 5.Tom O Dwyer 6.Mike Carroll 7.Andrew White 8. Danny Keogh 9.Tony Cahill 10. David O Grady 11.Declan Bannon 12. Darragh Mulcahy 13.Sean Darcy 14.Paidi Kilcoyne 15.Brendan Deady 16.Keith Laffan 17.Garry Leonard 18.Ger O Connell 19. Mike Cooke 20 Paul Downes