The clash of rugby full-backs in Limerick

John Gallagher and Eileen Noonan, two rugby full-backs who had a chance meeting in Limerick recently.
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A CHANCE meeting between two stand-out rugby full-backs has happened in Limerick.

It involved John Gallagher, full-back on the World Cup winning New Zealand team of 1987 and Eileen Noonan, who featured in the same position for a pioneering Bruff XV way back in 1979.

The pair bumped into each other and plenty of rugby tales were told between the pair over a while.

Gallagher’s career is well documented but that of Noonan isn’t as well known.

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Some 40-odd years ago, she, along with a selection of others from her generation, came together and formed a ground-breaking ladies’ team with Bruff.

Around that time, Bruff engaged in a fundraising contest with a side comprised of female workers from Allied Irish Banks (AIB), one which raised monies for a variety of deserving causes of that era.

After a lapse of many years, Bruff are once more fielding a ladies’ side in 2023/2024.