Seniors Vs Rainey Old Boys
The 1st XV made it three wins in a row when they accounted for league leaders Rainey Old Boys at home in Kilballyowen on Saturday. Saturday’s game marked the mid-way point in the season and the win leaves Bruff in 7th place in the league going into the Christmas break.
Rainey who are based in Magherafelt Co Derry started well and battered the Bruff line from the off playing most of their ball through their big forward pack. Bruff conceded two penalties on four and twelve minutes and trailed 6-0 as a result. This was Raineys best period of the game and to only concede six points was to prove vital as Bruff took control of the game for the rest of the half scoring 15 unanswered points. The first Bruff score came on twenty five minutes from a penalty which Tony Cahill converted. Davie O Grady was next up with a try which started on the Rainey 10 metre line when Keith Laffan turned over a scrappy Rainey lineout which resulted in a Penalty for Bruff. Bruff won a second penalty in the Rainey 22 which they decided to scrum down after Rainey lost a man to the sin bin. Bruff won a clean ball and O Grady darted over from short range for the score. Tony Cahil kicked the extras which made the score 10-6 to Bruff.
Bruff had their tails up and continued to put some good attacking plays together which were rewarded in the thirty sixth minute with a second try. Neilus Keogh made the initial line break which was taken into contact and recycled quickly before Keogh who had started the move, finished it by crashing over to the right of the post to leave it 15-6 at the break.
The second half proved to be tight with little or no opportunities for either team. It took 35 minutes for the only score of the second half to come. Rainey broke from their own half to score a try in the corner which went unconverted to ensure a nail biting finish. With the score now 15-11 Bruff were forced to defend to the end with the final whistle coming after Rainey knocked on while attacking in the Bruff half. It came as a result off determined Bruff defence and good solid tackling.
Bruff go into the winter break with four wins from nine games, three of which came in the last three outings.
It was a rough start to the season for everyone involved in the senior set-up but they should all be happy with the turnaround shown in the last 6 weeks. Bruff conceded 147 points in the opening 5 games but only 47 in the last 4 games. Let’s hope that the momentum can be carried into 2017.!
Team: 1-15
Dave Horan, John Hogan, Keith Laffan, Neilus Keogh, Brian Morrissey , John Clery, Maghnus Collins, Danny Keogh, Tony Cahill, Dave O Grady, Mark Cosgrove, Sean Darcy, Jack O Grady, Liam Tracey, Kevin McManus
Subs, Paddy Clery, Cillian Rea, Mike Cooke, Brian Cahill, Graham Whelan
Fixture:
Sunday Dec 11th – Munster Junior Cup v Killarney in Killarney- 14:00