Tullamore fight back to draw against Bruff

Tullamore showed huge resolve to claw their way back from the jaws of defeat at the weekend to force a stalemate against Bruff last Saturday.

All-Ireland Rugby League Division 2C

Tullamore 20

Bruff 20

Tullamore were aided by a gale force wind in the first half, and capitalised in the opening minutes through the trusty boot of Conor Dunne. Minutes later Bruff tried to relieve pressure with a clearance kick, Liam Farrell expertly batted the ball back to Karl Dunne. Karl drifted into the midfield and stepped back against the grain to make a small break. The ball was then whipped to the outside backs. Sean McCabe received the ball near the edge on the halfway line, he stepped inside the last defender and threw a Sonny Billeasque offload to send Steven Joyce flying down the right wing. He showed great pace and footwork to beat the last defender and dotted down for the 5 pointer. Conor added the extras to stretch the lead to 10 points.

Dunne added another penalty soon after, when he booted a 50 metre effort over the uprights for a dominant lead.

After this, Bruff began to capitalise on Tullamore's mistakes, and the visitors conceded several rookie penalties to let Bruff back into the contest. They were eventually awarded with a try of their own on the stroke of half time to close the gap to 6. They scored 3 more points almost immediately after the break when Tullamore made another elementary mistake when gathering the restart.

The rain and wind worsened at this point and Bruff seemed to grow in confidence. They added a converted try on the 50 minute mark to take a 4 point lead. Alan Douglas and Aaron Leavy were introduced at this point and their impact was telling. Ciaran Ennis, Cathal Behan and Mark Kennedy all took the game by the scruff of the neck and really began to press at the Bruff defence with attritional carries.

Bruff added another penalty on the 65th minute against the run of play, but this would be the last significant involvement the home side would have in the contest. From the restart Aaron showed his fielding ability by reaching over the Bruff second rows to bat the ball back to Cathal Behan. Tullamore rattled into the 22 metre line and eeked metres through substitute Calvin Mahon, Ciaran Ennis and Matthew Murphy. Bruff conceded 5 penalties on the trot and received a yellow card for their exploits.

Tullamore were then given a penalty on the 5 metre line. Conor Dunne quick tapped and dummied the pass, he then burrowed his way over the line to close the gap to 2 points. He then faced a very difficult kick near the sideline against a howling wind. It never deterred Conor as he drilled the ball through the sticks to sicken the Bruff support. The final score 20-20.

Tullamore will be very pleased to claw their way back here, but will still feel that they could have gotten all 4 points if they hadn't switched off in the mid section of the game. When the going got tough, Tullamore were definitely accounted for through Ciaran Ennis, Conor Dunne, Mark Kennedy along with substitutes Aaron Leavy and Calvin Mahon. Ciaran got the nod for the man of the match for a brilliant and hard working display. 

TULLAMORE: 1. Mark Kennedy, 2. Matthew Murphy, 3. Cathal Behan, 4. Scott Milne, 5. Ciaran Ennis, 6. Colm McGuinness, 7. Colm Heffernan, 8. Barry Bracken (C), 9. Eoin O'Reilly, 10. Craig Strong, 11. Liam Farrell, 12. Conor Dunne, 13. Sean McCabe, 14. Steven Joyce, 15. Karl Dunne. 16. Alan Douglas, 17. Calvin Mahon, 18. Kon Fennelly, 19. Aaron Leavy, 20. Gary Cantwell.