Dungannon saved their worst performance of the season for the visit of Bruff to Stevenson Park. An inability to retain possession coupled with attempts to play netball on a day made for mud wrestling was almost their undoing. Then thanks to a sustained final ten minutes’ assault on the Bruff line they won the points with a last minute penalty try. Dungannon started brightly when Ali Birch collected a Bruff kick on the Dungannon ten metre line. An inspired run was stopped ten metres short of the Bruff line when his off load was not collected cleanly. That was as good as it got for Dungannon for the next fifty minutes.
The excellent Brian Cahill kept Dungannon in their own half with his boot and some shrewd ball distribution. On ten minutes Bruff were awarded a penalty straight in front and the unfortunate Michael Dunleavy was harshly sin binned. Cahill converted the resultant penalty. Four minutes later Cahill put a penalty awarded on his ten metre line into touch inside the Dungannon twenty-two. Brian Cahill broke through after the lineout and fed the supporting Mark Cosgrave who dived over beside the posts. Cahill converted putting Bruff into a 10 – 0 lead.Cahill and Stuart McCloskey missed with penalty attempts before half time.
With wind advantage in the second Dungannon were still playing second fiddle to Bruff. Cahill kept Bruff in the Gannon half for the most part until Ali Birch made a great break. Intelligently he slowed down looking for the support which materialised in the shape of Derek Hall who took Birchie’s off load and raced in for the try on the left after fifty-five minutes. With ten minutes left Dungannon got a foothold in the Bruff twenty-two when Stuart McCloskey sent a penalty into touch ten metres short of the Bruff line. Dungannon mounted a serious and sustained assault on the Bruff line. With the Faithful in full cry Dungannon were now intent on a try and victory. A lineout, five scrums, six penalties, and two sin binnings later referee Gallagher had no option but to award Dungannon a penalty try. With the faithful holding their breath Stuart McCloskey put the conversion between the posts and the ref blew the final whistle giving Dungannon the four points.
Whilst the final ten minutes belonged exclusively to Dungannon Bruff were in control for most of the remaining seventy minutes and will be very disappointed not to come away with more than a losing bonus. On the brighter side Dungannon regrouped well after losing the influential James McMahon in the warm up and then seeing Michael Dunleavy sent to the bin after ten minutes. After going ten points down within fifteen minutes they defended their line stoutly and whilst much of their decision making was poor they still had the wherewithal to grind out the score on that final sustained assault. Head Coach Paddy Johns was far from impressed but praised the character of the players for sticking to their task in the final ten minutes.
Team: Stuart McCloskey, Darren Simpson, Paul Magee, Glen Telford, David Egner. Jaryd Bennett, Jake Finlay. Glen Sinnamon, Phil Whyte, Mark Farquhar. Michael Dunleavy, Mark Jenkinson (Capt). Derek Hall, Rowan Halsall, Ali Birch. Paul Jackson, Seven Sinnamon, Timothy Smith, Stuart McKenzie, Sean Conway. Referee: Sean Gallagher
