It is hard to believe that there was no score in this game for the first 30 minutes. Terenure came closest with a missed penalty and a brilliant piece of handling from their captain Brewer creating space for his outside backs only for them to be held up and dispossessed over the line by miracle work by Tadgh Bird.

 

In the end Clontarf opened the scoring through Dylan Donellan (surprise surprise) after a few attempts at getting a five yard line out right. From that point on (10 from half time) everything went a bit wobbly for the home side.

 

Suffice to say that a team as well drilled as Terenure are should be made to work from distance, giving them access to your 22 by conceding avoidable penalties is a travesty. But that is where Clontarf went ….. silly penalties, missed tackles, lazy turnovers, pretty much sums up the period 10 minutes from and 10 minutes after half time which resulted in Clontarf’s 7 nil lead being turned into a 24 7 deficit with 25 to go.

 

Terenure’s first came after a penalty gave them access to the home 22. A bit of grunt and grunt again saw them home and a few minutes later they got in on the left after cheap access gave them territory on Tarfs 22. Half time was 7 12 to the visitors and when Tarf ran back a long kick from the second half kick off only to turn it over, Nure went left to right and carved down the right wing to set up, again, possession in the Tarf 22 and the inevitable score.

 

They went again after the kick off and soon backs were running against forwards down the left with the inevitable result. So we are now looking at 7 24 with 25 to go and Clontarf feeling like they’ve been a little generous. To be fair at this point the better team were winning and no complaints. However, white flags were not being raised and faced with humiliation Clontarf started to climb the wet rope ladder back into the game. That they managed to claw it back speaks volumes for their resilience because for everything they now achieved that was excellent, they continued to juxtapose with rank sloppiness.

 

In the end the game resulted in a bonus point win for the visitors. Well deserved and no complaints. Clontarf clawed 2 bonus points back in the last 20 minutes and will be somewhat comforted by the fact that in the phases of the game where they weren’t making abject errors they had the hammer on Terenure and the visitors weren’t happy.

 

Terenure are a great side and play cohesive flowing rugby ….. kinda like a Ferrari …. Clontarf are a great side and play cohesive crunching rugby …… kinda like a WW2 Tank …. The rematch in Lakeland’s will be enthralling.