Glory for Lansdowne as brave Bruff fall short

LANSDOWNE set the pace in the AIB Division Two campaign way back in October when they hammered Bruff, on their own patch.

At Anglesea Road on Saturday, the Dublin 4 outfit sealed a wonderful season against the same opposition, but this time had to struggle much harder on their way to the divisional title.

Both teams had already won promotion to Division 1A, so a trophy and pride were at stake; Bruff certainly righted the wrongs of earlier in the season but it was scant consolation to their coach Eoin Cahill. “We were in a good position, we could have forced them into extra time but it wasn’t to be,” he said.

It wasn’t lost on Cahill that a disastrous spell just before half-time probably cost them the game. Bruff had scoring opportunities to take the initiative; instead a narrow two-point deficit turned into a nine-point gap at the break. Bruff missed two penalty chances before Lansdowne twisted the knife with a try at the other end.

“We had options,” said Cahill, “and we exercised those options. It didn’t work out but who is to say they weren’t the right ones at the time? What pleased me most was we came back and got stuck in after we fell 14-5 down; it didn’t surprise me because I know what these guys are made of, but it was nice to see,” he said.

Lansdowne skipper John Lyne wasn’t surprised either by the vigorous challenge of Bruff: “I genuinely, hadn’t taken much notice of our big win earlier in the season (54-13); we were fortunate to get a few of the scores that day and it put a really lopsided look on the way the match was played. We knew exactly what to expect and it was all down to being able to take our opportunities; when you get to a final you’ve got to put the points on the board and we’re relieved at having done that,” he said.

Lansdowne took the lead after just five minutes when winger Matthew Healy was sent into space by David Hewitt and Andrew Geraghty converted from the touchline. It was a fast and furious opening with both sides buying into an open-game policy that saw backs prepared to attack from anywhere; it almost got Lansdowne into trouble twice when Bruff counter-attacked with such ferocity from 50 metres, but both times they came up frustratingly short.

They did get a reward after 22 minutes when sheer persistence brought them to within two points. Pat Thompson started the move from inside his ‘22 and put pressure on both Hewitt and Shane Gahan; the Lansdowne winger’s clearance kick went askew, over his own line in fact, and John Moore pounced for the try.

Encouraged by that, Bruff stormed back in search of more, and several times they worked their way into scoring positions through the hard graft of a powerful pack that dominated the scrums and lineouts and broke even in the breakdown.

Crucially though, they conceded possession on three occasions with a score in sight and they were sucker-punched in one isolated Lansdowne raid at the end of the half. Full-back Hewitt made the extra man to get in for his side’s second try. Geraghty converted to secure a flattering 14-5 interval lead.

It got better for the Dublin side 11 minutes into the second half when Geraghty kicked a penalty although Bruff responded with a superb team try, scored by full back Thompson.

Bruff fell foul of referee Simon McDowell at the breakdown where they were constantly penalised for not releasing quickly enough; it was to prove their undoing because it helped Lansdowne relieve the pressure to survive their most searching exam this season.

LANSDOWNE: D. Hewitt, S. Gahan, K. Lewis, G. Stafford, M. Healy, A. Geraghty, B. O’Riordan, J Lyne (cpt), P. Flood, J. O’Connell, N. Keogh, W. Earles, A. McCullen, B. McKeever, B. Horan.

Replacements: R. Boucher for McKeever (42), K. Cleere for R. Jones for Boucher.

BRUFF: P. Thompson, A. Cashman, J. Malone, J. Carroll, J. Moore. B. Cahill (cpt), T. Cahill, G. Ryan, C. O’Regan, S. Foster, A. Bourke, M. O’Connell, D. Gardiner, M. Carroll, J. Shine.

Replacements: P Malone for Gardiner, D. Murnane for O’Connell (both 45), E. Maher for Carroll (76). Temp: N. O’Riordan for Thompson (48-52).

Referee: S. McDowell (IRFU).