Clontarf’s bonus point victory over Shannon on Saturday will be blessed relief to the home faithful. The victory sees ‘Tarf secure in joint fourth in the League, seven points ahead of the leading team in the chasing pack. The fact that Lansdowne have stormed off into the distance and are 10 points ahead of Munsters in second place and 14 ahead of Tarf in fourth we will not dwell on. Safe to say that in a season where there are no playoffs our south city rivals have every reason to feel comfy. As things stand they could even be looking at the Clontarf fixture in the Aviva on 29th March as a crucial league decider! How annoying is that!
Clontarf took the full first half to settle into this game as the tactics of going off the top and spreading the ball wide paid little dividends against a side that spread quickly, made their tackles stick, and barely committed anyone to the breakdown unless there was a clear cut opportunity of a turnover. At half time with Shannon leading 12 6 after a score right at the whistle the home coaching team could be forgiven for delivering an Alex Ferguson like hairdryer treatment which , true to the United maestro, had the desired effect. In the second half Clontarf were a transformed side and, with the adjusted tactic of attacking the 10 yard channel either side of the breakdown, soon began to make inroads into the Shannon defence and into their lead on the scoreboard . Tarf were rewarded with tries to Crawford and Adrian Darcy and when Shannon ran out of luck and accuracy in the home 22 a kick ahead from Richie ‘Ronaldo’ Lane saw him follow up with two deft touches to score by the posts.
At this point Shannon understandably lost heart and energy and Clontarf forced home their advantage with a bonus point score to Matt Darcy after some excellent handling by the forwards.