“There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip”
Old English proverb
It’s hard to believe that the AIL is only half over with 9 games still to play. A study of the league table would lead some to believe that it’s all over bar the shouting whereas the reality is that there is a lot of rugby to be played yet.
Clontarf visited Shannon at the weekend for a tricky fixture at a tricky venue on a tricky day for rugby. Buoyed by a victory over Thomond Park rivals UL Bohs, Shannon were looking to keep momentum up in their quest to move away from the relegation zone. Clontarf were coming off a tame defeat to St Marys and were looking to add bite to their undoubted skill base. Starting with the gale Shannon popped out to a 9 – 3 lead through 3 penalties from Guerin to one from Noel Reid. Clontarf, however, were showing outstanding control into the elements and when Killian Lett made good ground and found his centre partner on the loop, the Shannon line was breached and Mick McGrath was put in under the posts by a deft piece of handling by Evan Ryan. Noel Reid smacked over the conversion for 10 – 9 to ‘Tarf.
The restart was gobbled up by new man and second row Mark Flanagan; he shimmied into a gap and released flanker Conor O’Keefe who stormed off on his own like the ex GAA player he is. I swear at one stage it looked like he was going to solo the ball. Instead he set it up just outside the home 22 and three phases later a perfect piece of handling from Darragh Fitzpatrick and a lovely timed run from McGrath saw him under the posts again. Noel Reid added the convert and Clontarf had gone from 9 – 3 down to 17 – 9 ahead in five minutes. This was all the visitors deserved because they were giving a display of control and option taking in atrocious weather which was top drawer. Shannon got in for one on the stroke of half time with a typical piece of pick and grunt but would not have counted on being behind 17 – 14 at half time
The second half was a turgid affair as Shannon turned up the heat into the wind and, to their credit, fairly pounded the ‘Tarf line. Clontarf held firm, made their tackles, and after a loose ball was fly hacked downfield, flanker Darcy found himself with the ball in his hands and the wind at his back and, with his out-half brother watching in admiration, put a perfect punt into the Shannon 22 where the game played out its final minutes. ‘Tarf added a penalty on the stroke of full time to round the score to 20 – 14.