Friday night saw the latest instalment of Irish Rugby’s Hatfields versus the McCoys rivalry as Old Belvedere welcomed their old friends and relatives from the Northside.
The last time these two sides met the game was nip and tuck and was finally settled in favour of Tarf by a full time penalty from Richie Lane. Friday was a little different and goes to prove how performances within a season can be cyclical and depend also on injuries and form to key players. In the last meeting Belvo were snappy and efficient and could, or possibly should, have taken the game; Tarf were missing players and some of their key men were struggling to find form.
On Friday that story was definitively reversed. Clontarf were coming off two 5 pointers and were buzzing with intent, Belvo were coming off 6 defeats and staring down the league table with trepidation.
It didn’t help the home side that amongst all of their other issues they were about to run into Tarf with all of their ‘personalities’ in good shape and itching to make an impact. Clearly , chief tormenter was Simon Crawford who, motivated by the presence of Leo Auva Va decided to pull off an outrageous upstaging by scoring three tries in a typically bravura performance.
Sam Cronin also had a blinder and was aided and abetted by Evan Ryan as a late deputy at 10 for Darragh Fitz who failed to shake off a niggly ankle problem and was forced to honourably declare himself unfit.
For the side overall the defensive energy was palpable. Despite a strangely one eyed performance by the referee Clontarf rarely lost concentration in defence and in that critical 10/15 minute period just after half time were outstanding in repelling the home sides phases. That was critical to the overall result because Tarf were only leading 13 7 at half time so a quick home try in the second half could have turned the momentum. As it was they got a snap drop goal after 9 minutes to bring the deficit to 3 points but then, courtesy of another Crawford try the proverbial roof fell in. The last 25 minutes was one way traffic with the visitors, led by a fully rejuvenated two try Tiger Tank called Killian Lett, running riot up to literally the final whistle which greeted the conversion of the final intercept score from Mick McGrath.
So Clontarf have won their last three games with maximum points and have scored 100+ in doing so.
Outstanding.
Not much more to be said.