Clontarf travelled west into the teeth of a storm having done quite a bit of soul searching after two sub-par performances and two losses so far in January.
Required, was a return to the core values of commitment and application and as it turned out, the weather on the day left little room for anything else. Facing up to a heavy Galwegians pack on a freezing cold day on a sloppy pitch in Galway is enough to focus the mind on the more industrial aspects of the game. As it turned out, Clontarf left their Hawaiian shirts and their shades behind and turned up to a man in Kevlar body armour.
For the first 20 minutes the lighter Tarf pack absorbed the expected wallop from the home side and as the game progressed the young visiting props worked out the opposition and began to achieve parity, and then slight advantage, in the tight. The lineout, in particular, was outstanding with Aaron Dundon throwing 100% and Ben Reilly shredding the opposition throw with 6 turnovers. Clontarf dominated the maul and sucked yards from the home side in that phase when in possession and when challenged in the second half the visitors spun the opposition effort into the mush. Left with only the wide option Galwegians were hunted laterally across the park with both the conditions helping the drift allied with a marauding display from Adrian Darcy who closed the inside options on the home attack.
Clontarf led by 3 to nil at half time. In the second half the visitors scented blood and patient application from the forward in the opposition 22 led to two tries for both young props. The first to Vak who snorted in after great driving close in and the second to Ivan 5 minutes later who also snorted in after great driving close in. David Joyce converted both tries. Galwegians got in for one of their own after good work, and a great step, going wide left to right but were unable to convert from the sludge. It was their only successful penetration of the Clontarf defensive line. That left the final score 5 – 17 to Tarf and a contented journey home. Next up is Terenure on Friday night. Terenure are hovering just above the relegation zone so will arrive like scalded cats.
Give em the dog!