J1 League – Clontarf 10 Trinity 20
By Mark Byrnes
Clontarf succumbed to their first defeat of the season in a disappointing performance at a chilly College Park.
The game was only two minutes old when Trinity out half missed a straight forward penalty but made amends after five minutes when he cut through the Clontarf defence to touch down under the posts and the conversion was a formality.
The lead was increased a couple minutes later as Clontarf were penalised for offside and again the flags were raised.
Martin Dufficy rewarded Clontarf’s first entry into opposition territory with a penalty to cut the gap.
Winger Alan Kenny made a scything run into the Trinity 22 and was harshly judged to have sent a forward pass to Simon Crawford for what would have been a certain try.
Trinity increased their lead further on the half hour when they scored a try in the corner from a lineout and converted to leave it 17-3 at the break.
Shortly after the interval, tremendous pressure from Clontarf again went unrewarded as the referee adjudged the ball to have being held up rather than grounded on the line.
Trinity struck a further blow to Clontarf’s hopes of clawing their way back into the game with another penalty on 55 minutes. Clontarf scored a try from the impressive Stephen Boyle with ten minutes left which was converted by Dufficy but with insufficient time on the clock the spoils went to the home side.