Belief the key as Clontarf keep up pressure on Shannon
That win earned the Dublin outfit their tenth bonus point of the season and helped them into second place, splitting perennial Limerick powerhouses Shannon and Garryowen - in the last month Clontarf have beaten both.
Coach Phil Werahiko agrees that beating the Munster sides was crucial to the Clontarf surge: “Certainly if you looked at our fixture list early in the season you’d have picked out the January games as ones we’d have struggled in, given the quality we were up against, but as it turned out we took 19 out of a possible 20 points in that period.
“We’re not taking anything for granted, but it’s important for us to stay winning - we certainly want to make the top four, but the worst way to go into that would be on the back of a loss, so we want to stay winning.”
Werahiko credits the improvement in Clontarf’s season to some Munster input in part. Former UL Bohs back Breffni O’Donnell and ex-Shannon scrum-half Fiach O’Loughlin have helped to instill a winning mentality in the Dublin outfit.
“Having the likes of Breffni and Fiach has been a big help,” says Werahiko.
“There’s always a perception that maybe Dublin teams don’t travel very well, but they’ve brought a Munster outlook with them, that’s the only way they know. We’ve always had ability in the squad, but it’s all about instilling that extra belief into players that they can go out and win tough games.”
Pressed on a turning point for the season, Werahiko nominates the win over Constitution in the run-up to Christmas. The previous week Clontarf had lost to Buccaneers and they needed to get back to winning ways.
“That was a very big win for us, particularly winning the way we did. We scored three tries but we crossed their try-line a couple of other times as well, which gave us a good boost. If you’re scoring tries against a team like that you’ve got to be playing well, and we knew we could build on that.”
The genial coach is keen to give the credit to his players: “Every coach has a philosophy, every coach tries to instill belief in their players, but that doesn’t happen overnight. This season shows the players are getting that extra confidence, that extra belief. We just need to build on that again now if we want to win cups and leagues.
“This might be our year. We don’t want to be over-confident, Shannon and Garryowen are still playing well and Cork Constitution will be in the shake-up. We just want to keep our focus from now until the end of the season.”
Werahiko’s caution was borne out by the weekend’s results. Shannon consolidated their position on top of the league with a 27-15 win away to Lansdowne, while third-placed Garryowen also enjoyed a trip north, edging out Blackrock at Stradbrook 10-3.
Cork Constitution kept the pressure up on the top three with a 25-0 defeat of UCD at Temple Hill to remain in fourth place.
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