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.
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.
