’Tarf forward power crushes champions

IF Clontarf win a first AIB League title this season, they cannot be accused of taking the easy route.

The battling Dubs sneaked into the top four with a huge win over Dungannon a week ago; on Saturday at Temple Hill, they pulled out all the stops again to oust champions Cork Constitution and secure a place in the decider against competition specialists Shannon.

Clontarf have suffered the disappointment of losing finals before, to Ballymena and Shannon in 2003 and 2006 respectively. Victory was no more than they deserved, believes Clontarf team manager Pat McHale, and few would disagree: “It was a great win, we would have taken it by a point at the start; we slackened off in the last ten minutes of the first-half, had a chat at the break and came out to up the pace. The game plan was to keep them under pressure because they’re a good side. We were particularly happy with our line out because a few weeks ago they destroyed us there.”

Ben Reilly, Simon Crawford and Heinrich Stride prospered out of touch and Stride proved to be the scoring hero with two tries at crucial stages to put his side in a position of strength. As always, Frank Cogan and Billy Holland gave it their best shots, but Clontarf’s overall forward power was just too much. Evan Ryan and, occasionally, Cronan Healy looked threatening for Constitution, but Clontarf’s unit had a more formidable look about it. Halves Paul O’Donoghue and Martin Dufficy, centre Daragh O’Shea and wingers Michael Keating and Niall O’Brien will surely provide a handful for Shannon as they occasionally did for Constitution on Saturday.

Disappointed Constitution coach, Brian Walsh, had no complaints except for the winning margin: “I thought it was a one score game although they would fully deserve to be that one score ahead. We had some opportunities but they had more; they were fresher. We did a lot of things right in the first-half but I don’t think we had enough in the tank. They started to win the challenges after the break; we looked a bit out on our feet.”

Clontarf took the lead with a penalty from captain Daragh O’Shea after 10 minutes but Constitution would t have been ahead but for two penalty misses, one relatively easy, by Jeremy Manning. The out half did kick a simple 15 metre effort after 32 minutes, no less than they deserved.

First-half promise failed to materialise for Con, and the visitors surged in front when abrasive flanker Stride went through for a 47th minute try that Dufficy converted. The out half added a penalty midway through the half before Manning gave Constitution brief hope with a responsive 67th minute penalty.

That’s more or less when it started to go wrong. Constitution winger Healy had to break up a promising Clontarf move between O’Brien and O’Shea, but a subsequent attack yielded a second try for Stride and Dufficy converted for the insurance points.

In injury time, Clontarf got a superb breakaway try from Dufficy, Stride and O’Donoghue prominent.

CORK CONSTITUTION (From): D. Lyons, R. Lane, T. Gleeson, E. Ryan, C. Healy, J. Manning, J. Stringer, G. Murray, D. Murray, T. Ryan, M. O’Connell, B. Holland, E. Leamy, F. Cogan, B. Cuttriss (captain).

Replacements: P. O’Mahony for Leamy (40), D. Kelly for Cuttriss (64), C. Nolan for Stringer (72).

CLONTARF: P. Howard, M. Keating, D. O’Shea (captain), B. O’Donnell, N. O’Brien, M. Dufficy, P. O’Donoghue, K Dorian, A. Dundon, N. Treston, B. Reilly, S. Crawford, H. Stride, M. Garvey, N. Carson.

Replacements: C. Keegan for O’Donnell, J. Wickham for Dorian (both 40), M. Rantz Mcdonald for Howard (70), S. Treacy for O’Donoghue, B. Focas for Carson (both 80).

Referee: A. Lewis (IRFU).