AIL Match Report – Tarf 39 Dungannon 19
By Mark Byrnes
Clontarf bounced back from their slip up in Athlone with an assured victory over a determined Dungannon side at Castle Avenue.
Clontarf were quickest off the blocks and went 10-0 up after Aaron Dundon barreled his way over the line to add to an early Noel Reid penalty- Reid converting the hooker’s try.
Dungannon responded well and went in front with two tries in the space of five minutes – one of which was converted to leave it 12-10 after 22 minutes.
Clontarf reacted with a fine maul towards the clubhouse resulting in a try, with Conor O’Keeffe scoring the touchdown- Reid added the vital extras. It was due reward for the dominant pack led by man of the match Ben Gissing.
On the stroke of half time, out-half Reid scythed through the increasingly porous Dungannon defense to go under the posts for a fine individual score and converted to ensure the home side went into the break 24-12 in front.
The lead was further increased early in the second half when Reid slotted a penalty, bringing his tally to 17 as Clontarf went in search of a coveted bonus point. The moment almost came on the hour when a fine move through the backs put Daragh O’Shea through- but unfortunately the full back was tackled with the line at his mercy.
Dungannon set up a nervy final fifteen minutes with a converted try to leave it 27-19 as Clontarf squandered a number of opportunities with uncharacteristic poor handling.
With the clock ticking down, the introduction of Ben Barclay saw two huge scrums on the Dungannon 5 metre line, the first had ‘Tarf winning the scrum against the head, the second saw our scrum march forward with Martin Garvey having the easy job of scoring to the left of the posts.
The result was put beyond doubt in the last minute when openside Barry O’Mahony scored a try with sub Martin Dufficy adding the conversion.