Club Notes Week Ending 12.3.17

This weeks club notes come from Bruff, Newcastle West, and Thurles.

Bruff RFC
Courtesy of Mary Quinlan

Seniors Vs Navan RFC

League leaders Navan were the visitors to Kilballyowen on Saturday for round 14 of the UBL. Great credit goes to the field committee for getting this game to the starting line as it was 1 of only 2 games to be played at the weekend in the division.

It was a crunch game for both clubs as Navan went into the game sitting in the driving seat to clinch automatic promotion while Bruff are in the hunt for 4th place which would mean a play-off place for promotion.

But it was Navan who left Bruff the happier taking a 15-8 win after an extremely tense 80 minutes of rugby.

Former Bruff player Deccie Bannon lined out at out-half for the opposition and it was he who got the first score of the game kicking a penalty after just 2 minutes. Navan blindside wing forward Conor Ryan got in for a try after 7 minutes to make it 8-0 but it was Bruff who were to dominate territory for the remainder of the half.

Tony Cahill kicked a penalty on 28 minutes after Navan infringed after a lineout which lead to a yellow card for the visitors and they also picked up a 2nd yellow after 35 minutes. With Navan down to 13 men Bruff turned down a number of kickable penalties instead opting for set plays. Unfortunately the gamble didn’t pay off and Bruff went into the break trailing 8-3.

Not long into the 2nd half Bruff struck with a try to make it 8-8. A harmless looking box kick from Tony Cahil was not gathering by the Navan defence and Bruff open side wing forward Maghnus Collins was on hand to collect the bobbling ball and run in from 40 yards to touch down for the 5 pointer.

The game was developing into a real arm wrestle but it was Navan who got the all import winning try with 50 minutes on the clock from centre Harry Hester. Declan Bannon kicked the convert to put 7 points in the difference. Bruff had plenty of possession in the closing stages but were unable to breach the Navan defence.

The losing bonus point leaves Bruff 2 points behind 4th Place Tullamore who have a game in hand. There are 4 games remaining with an away trip to Sligo to look forward to this weekend.

Team: 1-15
Dave Horan, Cillian Rea , Brendan Keogh, Dave Gardner, Brian Morrissey , John Clery, Maghnus Collins , Paddy Clery, Tony Cahill, Dave O Grady, Kevin McManus , Sean Darcy, Jack O Grady, Liam Tracey, Graham Whelan
Subs, Mike Cooke, Brendan Keogh, Sean Hartigan, Eric Finn, Conor Fitzpatrick
Navan 1-20
L Jackson ,S Healy , S o Heir ,E Noonan, J Whittaker, C Ryan ,C Hand, B Mc Keever, B Haugh, Deccie Banon,S Voddan, R VD Vyver, H Hester, S Mcentaggart, R Waters ,B McGovern, E King , R Meegan ,R Moloney , C o Reilly, S Hogan

Bad weather

The recent bad weather has led to a number of games and training sessions being cancelled at the club. All coaches are asked to respect the pitches during the current spell of weather and check with the field committee before organising any games or adhoc training sessions. All parents and players are asked to keep close contact with coaches and keep an eye on the Twitter and Facebook pages where updates are being regularly posted.

St Patricks Day Parade.

The underage section of the club will take part in this year’s St Patrick’s Day parade in Bruff following the annual sponsored walk from the club grounds. Sponsorship cards are now in circulation and details of the walk and the parade are available in the packs that were handed out to underage players in recent weeks. Please try and support, it is an unforgettable experience for kids to be able to participate in the Parade.

Newcastle West RFC
Courtesy of Martin O’Sullivan

Munster Junior League Div 1: Our fixture with Kilfeacle was called off last weekend due to the weather conditions in the Tipp venue. As it stands our next fixture is March 19th against Clonakilty in Cullinagh @2.30pm
We’ll keep you updated via the Facebook and Twitter pages of fixtures as they come up.

U13s

The u13s and their parents braved the elements and ignored any weather alerts no matter what colour on Sunday to head to Shannon town for their semi-final against St. Senan’s. The pitch was wet but playable and the rain stayed off for the whole match so the boys got their heads together and prepared to put all the hard work in training to use. The match kicked off and it was a sluggish start from both sides with a lot of play in the middle of the park. We kept the ball well when we could with the forwards grinding their way up the pitch. After 9 minutes their work paid off and they slipped the ball to the back line where Alan broke St. Senan’s line to run from the 22 to touch down under the post. John stepped up and hit the conversion with ease. This seemed to relax the boys and the rugby started to flow a bit more. From the kick off they were pushing the opposition back towards their line. Communication and link up between the backs and forwards was great and on 16 minutes a delightful bit of play saw Sean Torley in space on the left wing where he switched on the afterburners and left his opposite number in the mud along with a couple of chasing players to finish near enough on the touch line. In the conditions it was an extremely difficult kick and John came close in the circumstances. St.Senan’s seemed to get a kick start and started to fight back. Holding us in our own half for the next 9 minutes. But an errant pass whilst going for a try was picked off by Alan who ran the length of the pitch try line to try line through several players to finish his second try under the posts .John added the two points. Halftime was called and it seemed to come at the wrong time for us as we went off the boil whilst St. Senan’s turned up the pressure. We seemed a bit unorganised from the kick off and after 6 minutes St. Senan’s got a try which they converted. The rest of the match was bogged down a bit with play going from one end to the other but no real spark from either team. With a couple of minutes to go a mix up at our lineout saw a pass back over our own try line dropped which St. Senan’s were quickest to get on top of!! The conversion proved too much and after the next passage of play the ref called time. Well done lads and thanks St. Senan’s for the game. Heads down now for the final hopefully the first of many we have together!! Final score 19-12

Lotto

Results from Friday 24th February Lotto Draw

Numbers Drawn 4, 7, 14, 28 – NO WINNER

MICHAEL HARTNETT C/O BALLINTEMPLE INN
JOHN DINEEN C/O KILLELINE SHOP
JIMMY RUSSELL C/O PALLAS FOODS
ROISIN PHILLIPS C/O STRAND BAR
AOIFE CORBETT C/O TONY HAYES
MARGARET LEE C/O FRANK MCENERY
Promoters Prize. Cleary’s Bar

Results from Friday 3rd March Lotto Draw

Numbers Drawn 4, 8, 20, 23 – NO WINNER

MIKE BARRY SHEEHAN’S ROAD, NCW
MARGARET MORAN, BEECHWOOD AVENUE
FRANK MCENERY C/O BALLYGOWAN
PADRAIG O’ CONNELL, WOODFIELD PARK
JOHN GEANEY C/O SAM LANE
LORNA BOURKE, BALLYSHANE, NCW
Promoters Prize. Tom Corbett

Next week’s draw will be in Silver Dollar Bar on Friday 10th March. The jackpot stands at €10,500

Thurles RFC
Courtesy of Brian Scanlon

Munster Junior League: Thurles RFC 12 – 3 Tralee RFC

The Thurles First XV hosted the visit of Tralee RFC at Loughtagalla in the latest instalment of the Munster Junior League as Thurles looked to keep their slight hopes of promotion this season alive. A staggered start to 2017 meant that this was only Thurles’ fourth fixture since the Christmas break, not ideal for preparation but Thurles came into this game with almost a full bill of health, with less than a handful of players unavailable through injury.

With a host of fixtures throughout the Junior Leagues falling foul to the weather conditions, the Loughtagalla pitch was one of very few to hold tough as the fixture went ahead as scheduled, for what started out as a bright afternoon in Thurles. The opening half of the game was a keenly contested and very fast paced game with Thurles shading it with the number of better scoring chances, with final passes going astray or simply not given with the wrong option being taken at times.

On the 30 minute mark, Thurles were rewarded for their pressure, following a lineout on the left, the home side went through the phases with some great work by Ciaran Ryan & Mark Cummins to secure possession, following some great hands from the back line it was Luke Kelly who was on the receiving end to power over in the right hand corner of the clubhouse with inches to spare for an unconverted try; 5-0 it remained until the half time whistle.

As Tralee kicked off to begin the second half, the heavens decided to open up, as the conditions worsened handling & footing errors began to creep in from both sides. Tralee had their purple patch at during the opening period of the second half but the only change they got from the strong Thurles defence was what seemed like an extremely harsh penalty in front of the posts; 5-3.

Thurles made a number of changes to freshen things up with Joey Kelly replacing namesake Luke, who in particular gave a big lift to the Thurles side with his strong running when introduced. As the game entered the final quarter, Thurles began to dominate possession, only for the ball slipping out of players hands like a bar of soap, you would have felt Thurles could have added a number of tries to their tally but they had to make do with a great try from Ger ‘Bad News’ McCormack, some great play and patience by the team as a whole in the build saw the move finish with a great line break by McCormack who sliced through the cover out wide to touch down, the convert was added by Aidan Dwyer; 12-3.

As the game reached the final few minutes, man of the hour, McCormack went from try scorer, to try saver as he made an excellent covering tackle on the Tralee winger who clearly underestimated the talents of the Thurles prop and he bundled the attacker into touch inches away from the line to prevent the Kerry men going home with a losing bonus point

The game ended 12-3 with Thurles securing the League win with only 2 games remaining in the competition. Thurles’ First XV next fixture is this coming Sunday as they face Presentation of Limerick away in the Quarter Final of the Munster Junior Plate, a competition they last won in 2015. We still await news on the rescheduling of the Final of the Munster Junior Clubs Challenge Shield.

Training continues Wednesday & Friday nights at 7.30pm sharp for both Firsts & Seconds.

Thurles Scorers: Luke Kelly & Ger McCormack (1 Try Each) & Aidan Dwyer (1 Conversion) Thurles Starting XV vs Tralee: 1. Ger McCormack 2. Shane Nugent 3. Dave Kelly 4. Luke Kelly 5. Shane McHugh 6. Mark Cummins 7. Paddy Phelan 8. Ciaran Ryan 9. Nicky Irwin 10. Aidan Dwyer 11. Adrian Bourke 12. Shane Moloney 13. Eoghan O’Dwyer (c) 14. Tommy Stevens 15. Peter Coman Subs Used: Joey Kelly, Michael Ely, Tommy Connolly & Ollie Delaney.

U18 Boys Pan Munster Plate Qtr Final: Thurles 24 – Thomond 6.

Thurles had a tough encounter on Saturday in the Pan Munster Plate quarter final against Limerick side, Thomond RFC. Thomond struck first with a penalty before a long spell of pressure by Thurles which was rewarded with Jack Flanagan scoring a well worked try and also converting putting Thurles 7 – 3 ahead. It was more of the same for the remainder of the first half with Thurles having large spells of pressure inside the Thomond half. Just before half time Jack Flanagan kicked a penalty to put Thurles 10 – 3 up at the break. Thomond kicked a penalty early in the second half to bring the deficit down to 10 – 6. Then Thurles came back at them with immense pressure resulting in a penalty, which Jack Flanagan kicked to touch for the lineout. Thurles won the lineout and George Stapleton broke clear from the back of the maul to get in for Thurles’ second try which Jack Flanagan converted. Thurles scored once more before the final whistle. George Stapleton followed up a penalty kicked which rebounded off the post and made an excellent offload to Colin Nolan who got over the line and Jack Flanagan duly obliged with the conversion. Notable performance came from Jack Flanagan, Seamus Holohan, Ciaran Murphy and David Conway. Man of the Match was David Conway leading from the front all day. Well done boys keep it up.