picture courtesy of Laurent
AIL Match Report
Tarf 25 Lansdowne 18
by Mark Byrnes
Clontarf preserved their unbeaten home run in the AIL with an exciting win over their Dublin opponents in a highly entertaining game at a chilly Castle Avenue on Saturday.
An early morning pitch inspection gave the game the go ahead and conditions were soft and white underfoot.
Lansdowne started the more brightly and an early penalty from Eoghan Hickey saw them hit the front. Clontarf number eight Martin Garvey was sent to the sin bin shortly after as Clontarf struggled to gain possession. Lansdowne further increased their lead after 15 minutes when winger Matt Healy scored a try and Hickey added his second penalty after 24 minutes to make it 11-0.
Clontarf then took control and after a bout of handbags both number 12s were sent to “cool off” in the bin, subsequently Clontarf opened their account with a penalty from Noel Reid.
Clontarf dominated possession for the remainder of the half and created a 3 on 1 overlap, however a deliberate knock on prevented a certain try which led to another yellow card and a penalty try converted by Reid to leave it 11-10 to Lansdowne at the break.
The Clontarf U-11’s braved the conditions to provide the half time display.
Clontarf began the second half strongly and Reid gave Tarf the lead after 44 minutes with a penalty in the wintery conditions, five minutes later saw Aaron Dundon being driven over with the assistance of a rampant Clontarf pack. The lead was further increased on 55 minutes when Ben Gissing crashed over the line which Reid converted to turn the game on its head and saw a dominant Clontarf lead 25-11 going into the last quarter.
Clontarf lost impressive sub Simon Crawford to the bin as Lansdowne upped their game which required superb defence to keep out the visitors. With ten minutes left Lansdowne scored a converted try to leave Clontarf hanging on to a 25-18 lead.
Following a number of scrums in the Clontarf 22 Niall Treston was binned in injury time, leaving the home supporters’ nerves frayed. But time ran out on Lansdowne and superb pressure on the Lansdowne scrum led to the ball being hacked clear in the snow and the final whistle was greeted with relief as the points were going to the northsiders on the coldest of cold days.