Manning gets drop on Clontarf after visa let-off

CORK Constitution will forever be grateful to an Irish immigration official who gave their outhalf Jeremy Manning a stay of execution at Dublin Airport on Saturday morning.

Manning (a New Zealander), returning from Munster’s Magners League clash with Edinburgh was called in by officials because his visa had apparently expired. At one stage the threat was that he would be sent back to Scotland until a senior official gave him a week’s grace to get his affairs in order, and allowed him back into the country.

Constitution would do well to send that official a letter of thanks, because Manning, who admitted to “laziness” in not securing a new visa, was the key man in this crucial victory that helped keep their position at the top of the AIB League.

Things didn’t start well for Manning. His attempted long pass was intercepted by Clontarf centre Darragh O’Shea who hacked on, with winger Max Rantz McDonald racing away to score a try that Ian Keatley converted.

Constitution battled back in the second quarter and Tim Ryan created the scoring opportunity for Manning to run in for a try that he converted himself.

The outhalf then took the game by the scruff of the neck, adding a pair of penalties and dropped goals either side of half time to stretch the Constitution lead to 12 points.

It went downhill from there for the north Dublin side. Cronan Healy raced away after a timely intervention from Ed Leamy and at 24-7, the match was secure. Con then went on to secure the bonus point by scoring further tries from John Kelly and Darragh Lyons, the second of which was converted by substitute Lyons.

Said Clontarf coach Andy Wood: “We had been going pretty well, but this was a bit of a wake-up call.

“Overall, we’re disappointed but we can’t have too many complaints because we didn’t play as well as I know we’re capable of playing,” he said.

Manning, meanwhile, was happy to be back in Ireland; even happier that his early mistake was not crucial to the result. “I made a bad error and I’m glad that things went well after that. I think we deserved to win but it was a tough game for a long time,” he said.

Constitution’s coach Brian Walsh was relieved to watch his side recover from a traumatic opening half.

“We had plenty of possession in the first half but seemed to panic on the ball.

“We will look at this win from all angles, but the fact is that we got a bonus point against one of the best teams in the league, away from home. We’ve got to be happy with that,” he said.

CLONTARF: P O’Brien, M Rantz McDonald, D O’Shea, B O’Donnell, D. Keane, I Keatley, P Howard, A Clarke, N Carson, N Treston, A Trenier, J Duffy, S Crawford, M Garvey, C Elvin.

CORK CONSTITUTION: Denis Hurley, J Kelly, T Gleeson, E Ryan, C Healy, J Manning, J Stringer, Darragh Hurley, D Murray, T Ryan, S O’Connor, M O’Connell, E Leamy, B Holland, B Cuttriss.

Replacements: D Fogarty for Murray, D Lyons for Stringer, D O’Kane for Manning, T Ryan for Darragh Hurley, J Moloney for O’Connell.

Referee. A Rolland (IRFU).