Bruff And Kanturk Go Head To Head

Kanturk are hoping to make history tomorrow in Musgrave Park when they take on County Limerick side Bruff in the Avonmore Milk Munster Youth’s U17 final, ko 1.15pm.

This will be the first time the North Cork side have reached the final of this competition having made the quarter finals last year and losing to eventual winners Waterpark.

Many of the current squad have been playing rugby since they joined the Kanturk mini rugby section from age 6 and with many recent successes at underage level they are confident they can go all the way.

Brendan Moylan Kanturk U17 Head Coach commented, "we are obviously delighted to have reached the final and feel it's a strong indicator of the strength and depth of underage rugby at the club. At the start of the year we would have set certain goals and so far we have gone a long way to achieving them”. He went on to say “to win on Saturday would confirm our belief that we can compete with the best clubs at this grade in Munster”.

Speaking about tomorrow’s opposition Moylan commented “Bruff will be a huge challenge as they are a fantastic outfit with a great coaching set up, but if we can get our basics right and get some quality possession we feel we have the players to mount a serious challenge".

Bruff RFC last won this competition in 1996 and 1997 captained by former Munster player Peter Malone who went on to captain the club to a Munster Senior Cup title in season 2010-11.

Commenting on their challenge tomorrow Kanturk Head Coach Tom O’Dwyer, father to the side’s captain Tom said “having reached the quarter final last year the players set their goal to go on further in the competition the follow season. He went on to say “we have a strong squad of players with lots of ability who have had many successes throughout their youth rugby to date. We know Kanturk are a big physical side but believe we have the players to match their strength and depth”. Speaking about what a win would mean to the club O’Dwyer said “a win would be a great reward for all the efforts the club has made in enhancing the underage structure throughout the years”.

Bruff and Kanturk Squads

Bruff: G Whelan, B O’Connell, S Doona, C Tierney, G Reidy D O’Grady, J Carew, C Casey, E Finn, B Keogh, M McKenna, C. O’ Dwyer, E. Costello, A McAuliffe, T. O’Dwyer Replacements: J Aherne, A O’Connell, LO’Dwyer, M Walsh, D Walsh, A Cooke, A Neylon, D Glynn, H Lane, C Collopy

Kanturk: James Sherlock, Ronan O Brien, Sean Cremin, Alan O Brien, Paul O Keeffe, Conor O Keeffe, Denis O Sullivan, Denis Donoghue, Patrick Collins, Jack Bradley, Paul O Connor, Michael O Brien, Ciaran Boyce, Conor O Sullivan. Replacements: John McAuliffe, Conor Moylan, Sean Callaghan, Patrick Hogan, Eoin Breen, Mark Sullivan, Dave Corcoran, Nathan Harmon, Paudie Callaghan, Billy Gorman, Daniel McSweeney, Timmy Callaghan

Admission Fee: Adult €;8, Youths/OAPs €;4