Shannon RFC

This match was a bruising encounter which has typified games of late between Shannon & Bruff. The Shannon forwards started off on a positive note and were inside the opposition 22 within the first five minutes, however, the ball was turned over when a forward got isolated and Bruff counter-attacked and booted the ball down the middle of the pitch which was added to by their very fast open-side winger and had it not been for the heroic tackling of the Shannon backs a try would have been conceded. Shannon were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle but the Bruff No.10 missed a shot from inside the 10metre line. Both teams traded possession over the next 15mins or so. On the 19th minute Bruff scored a try in the L/H/S corner when the mauled over the line from a 5m lineout, they missed the convert. Shannon’s reply was almost immediate on the 25th minute, when wing-forward James Murphy intercepted a wayward Bruff pass from inside his own 22m line and sprinted to the Bruff goal-line. Alan Bennie slotted the conversion. Bruff attacked from the drop-off and were attacking the Shannon 22m line when in a copy of Murphy’s try, scrum-half Alan Bennie intercepted to score in the R/H/S corner as the Bruff full back converged on him, his momentum taking over the line. Unfortunately he missed the conversion. Again both sides traded possession but it was the Bruff pack that started to take control and they were rewarded on the stroke of half-time with a try from a maul, following a scrum in the Shannon 22. They failed to convert and the score at the break was 15-12 to the home side.
The second half exchanges were similar to the first half, with both sides mounting assaults on each other’s line only to lose possession at the crucial moment with a miss placed pass or where an isolated player surrendering possession cheaply. Bruff added to their score on the 60minute with a penalty inside the Shannon 10m line, when the referee penalised them for not staying on their feet at the ruck. This they doubled in the 66th minute when Shannon tight head prop Gordon Britchfield was sin-binned for the same offence from inside the Shannon 22m line, to leave the score 21-12. As Bruff had the extra man in the pack they controlled the game from then on and their number 10 pinned Shannon back in their own half at every opportunity. The lads didn’t give up easy and they mounted a succession of attacks and reduced the deficit to 21-15 when the Bruff forwards piled in over the top of a ruck. However, even with Britchfield’s return in the dying minutes, Shannon was unable to breech the Bruff defence again. The match ended 21- 15. 
Team:J.Randles,J.Cronin,K.O’Neill,E.Cunnane(Capt.),D.Leahy,J.Murphy(Try),J.Deegan, B.Downey,A.Bennie(Try,Conv.,Pen),S.McNamara,C.O’Neill,D.Turner,W.O’Connor, S.Arthur,C.Cunnane. Subs: G.Escubar,G.Britchfield,D.Ryan,J.Doran,G.Broderick, J.Bedford, P.Curtis.  
Next Match: Nth.Munster League On Monday 10th Oct. V Old Crescent in Coonagh K.O. 07:30p.m.