Clontarf nipped another point off the Mary’s lead in Division 1A of the Ulster Bank League with a four try, bonus point win over Dolphin in Castle Avenue on Saturday. St Mary’s are now 2 points ahead of the Northsiders with a trip to Castle avenue on their late season schedule to look forward to.
What an odd start to a game. The ref had barely taken the starting whistle out of his mouth for a breath when he was blowing it again for the opening try to Dolphin who scored to the left of the posts after some weak alignment in the home defence. Out half Barry Keeshan failed with the conversion. Clontarf, stung by this impertinence, went one better with a surging maul for a score followed by a second try after Richie Lane pulled two defenders to the right and popped a lovely pass inside to Mick McGrath whose change of angle allowed him to stroll in untouched. So, three tries in seven minutes.
The game then settled into a pattern which was dominated by the sloppyness of the pitch which, having recently thawed, had a surface like a brick with a generous coating of butter icing. Clontarf added another mauled try which Lane converted brilliantly from the touchline and Dolphin popped two penalties from Keeshan for 22 – 11 to Clontarf at half time.
In the second half Clontarf added a fourth try after multiple phases were rewarded with a penalty which was sent to the corner. In the ensuing drive Tarf lost control of the ball which shot out the back. Out Half Dufficy gathered it superbly and found McGrath coming on a surging support run from the wing. He barrelled across the posts and was stopped just on the line where Crawford was on hand to take advantage of quick ball for the score.
Dolphin then laid siege to the home line and were afforded scrum superiority by an untimely yellow card to the home side. They forced their advantage well and were awarded a penalty try followed pretty quickly by another after multiple phases in the Tarf 22. Thankfully Richie Lane was on hand to pop over a calming penalty which pushed Clontarf to the finish. Actually, now that I think of it, Richie Lane is doing more for the stressed heart valves in Clontarf than Lipitor. On Saturday he was calmness personified as he has been in quite a number of games. It must be a sickener for the opposition to see him standing over the ball. Just like an undertaker in the A and E department he just isn’t good news .
And its not just the the solid kicking stats, it’s the timing; Richie has the knack of landing the critical kicks, the ones that put you two scores ahead, that relieve the pressure, that slip the knife into the opposition’s ribs , beautiful …… typical Corkman!
So we take our win and we move on to Anglesea Road next week to take on a wounded Old B. They are suffering at the moment but are still the champions.