In a game that had something for everyone, including a snowball attack on the officials (who were not impressed) from the more rowdy element of the Clontarf support , the home side prevailed due to a solid defensive effort during a first half assault by Lansdowne that saw the visitors dominate possession and territory for the first 30 minutes. Frankly, during that period Clontarf barely got away from their own 22 as the Lansdowne pack dominated around the fringes and powered into the somewhat unsettled home scrum. They were well worth their 11 nil lead and in fact spurned an extra 5 points through missed kicks which were to prove crucial.
Clontarf hung on grimly but seemed to continually infringe or turn over possession at critical times. It wasn’t until the final 10 minutes of the half that the home side finally got onto the score board when Lansdowne were caught offside at a ruck in front of the posts. This infringement sparked a bit of handbags which seemed to startle the Clontarf side into wakefulness. The arrival of Simon Crawford from the bench also helped to lift the mood and in a period of controlled frenzy Clontarf upped their pace and physicality and finally began to test the Lansdowne defence in their own 22. This forced a slap down under the posts to foil a two man overlap and resulted in a penalty try , a man in the bin, and 11-10 to Lansdowne at half time.
The first 20 minutes of the second half were all about the home side as the momentum was continued and the pressure maintained. Clontarf moved through struggle to parity and finally dominance in the scrum to add to their already strong lineout and Lansdowne went through a period of self doubt up front which resulted in a penalty to Noel Reid, a pushover try to Aaron Dundon, and shortly afterward a surge by the ever youthful Ben Gissing for a try under the posts. That moved the score to 25-11 to Tarf and thoughts of bonus points began to drift into mind.
With 10 to go those thoughts were swiftly disabused by a second superb try by Lansdowne winger Matt Healey who skated two tackles to score by the posts. So at 25-18 Lansdowne regained momentum and pounded the Clontarf line looking for the equalising points. Clontarf held out through sheer doggedness and a few prayers from the sideline also.