J1 League – Clontarf 35 Blackrock 10
By Mark Byrnes
Clontarf achieved their second successive win in the J1 league on Monday night at Castle Avenue. It was a superb display from Blaney Russell and AJ Clarke’s charges who scored five tries in this convincing victory.
The game was ten minutes old when the impressive Ross McCauley raced clear to touch down with Phil Howard adding the conversion. A superb team try followed on 22 minutes with winger Jonny McDevitt getting the touchdown after a mesmeric passage of play and Phil Howard again converting.
Former Tarf players Sean Treacy, Max Rantz-McDonald and Bruce Wood all featured for Blackrock and it was Rantz McDonald who capitalised on an opportunity to score a try to give the away side some hope but the conversion was missed and it was 14-5 at the interval.
Clontarf stretched their lead with a brace of tries from right winger Colin Murphy on 48 and 58 minutes with Howard adding the extras on both occasions to give them a 28-5 lead.
Max Rantz McDonald showed his pace again with eight minutes left by scoring a try in the corner to make it 28-10, however David Brua rounded things off with a try with six minutes left. Phil Howard capped off another fine game with the boot adding the conversion.