Young Munster 24 – Clontarf 19

This game ended Clontarf’s 1 year winning streak which began in December 2021. Clontarf can have no complaints, they dominated possession and territory for the first quarter and led 16 3 after 20 minutes after a try to Cian O’Donoghue and 3 penalties from Con Kelly but had enough possession and spent long enough in Young Munsters 22 to score twice as much.

An inability to turn dominance on the pitch to dominance on the scoreboard gave the home team hope and when they forced a turnover penalty on the Tarf 10 metre line and followed up with a penalty try at the ensuing maul for 10 16 at half time they knew they were in the game.

The second half was a mirror image of the first with Clontarf trying to build phases against a defence that rode its luck all over the rule book and more. A perfect example was an interception of a Tarf attack that was so offside the defender could have changed Jersies! Add in a kick ahead that was borderline dead, a 50/22 that hit the corner flag and a score for Munsters that began with a dislodged ball hitting the try scorers foot and bouncing into his hands.

He galloped off under the posts bouncing off tacklers and one of his own men before touching down. It simply wasn’t Clontarf’s day… Young Munster sealed their victory with a pick and jam try and ended the game with a penalty attempt that went wide on the right.

Congrats to the home side on their win. Clontarf have some resetting to do around accuracy and concentration in the set piece. Thankfully any issues from this game are internal …internal issues can be solved.