CLONTARF WIN LEINSTER SENIOR LEAGUE CUP!
04/04/2006
Clontarf 23 St Mary’s 16



Clontarf won the Leddin Finance Leinster Senior League Cup and in doing so continued their unbeaten run which stretches back to 3rd of December when they last stumbled away to Buccaneers.
In truth this was a strange game; the environs were odd, with the pitch flanked on one side by a row of horse boxes and on the other by a Victorian era stand resplendent with wooden panelling and scallop fringed awnings. You almost felt you were intruding and that an 'Empire' garden party might break out at any moment ……

Adding to the strangeness was a St Mary’s side who were clearly ‘up for it’. They were fizzing right from the start. Urged on by their passionate supporters they got ‘stuck in’ right from the off. This led to few scuffles and handbags early on as the boys in blue worked off their hormones. It also meant that Clontarf took a while to settle which is exactly what St Mary’s wanted.

The sides exchanged penalties early on and then Mary’s excellent outhalf Sexton put them 6 3 up on 30 minutes.
Almost immediately O’Brien was put clear down the left. He cut in and the ball was moved to Chops who set it up under the Mary’s posts. A quick recycle and Carson put Hewitt in by the right hand flag for 8 6 to Tarf where it stayed for half time.
In the second half Clontarf started to rumble up front and a well worked maul saw prop Sweeney in for the score. 15 6 Tarf

Actually ‘Chopper’ Sweeney was the centre of one of the more amusing issues in the day. Presumably, given his past St Mary’s association ‘Chops’ was due some attention. No doubt he was a part focus of their team talks etc etc….. loyalty… blah blah.
The upshot was everytime he got the ball he was double and triple teamed. This really animated the Mary’s bench who cheered to the rafters every contact on Chops. Allied to that was the Clontarf support who cheered to the rafters everytime ‘Chops took out two and three Mary’s players with his bullocking charges. His ears must have been burning!..... cheers from all sides!

Clontarf continued to apply pressure and it was from one of these periods in the Mary’s 22 that the ball was turned over for Mary’s no 11 Norton to make a superb break for his centre partner Douglas to score. 15 13 Tarf.
That wasn’t very clever…. More irritating was that the preceding passage of play saw Clontarf playing hot potato with a wet ball under the opposition posts when a modicum of composure from any of five players could have set it up for a score which would have killed the game.
However, skill was to tell on the day and almost immediately ‘Tarf responded; quick ball left to right came to Hewitt who spotted the rush defense and put a beautiful kick in behind for O’Brien to run on to and score.
That was effectively that, both sides added penalties for a final score of 23 16 Tarf and the cup goes back to Castle Ave.

It’s only now that I have realised what was strange about the game… Clontarf were clearly the favourites. But it was the passion that the Mary’s team, and sideline, brought to the game that reminded me of Clontarf 6/7 years ago before we started to develop the consistency required to compete at the top of the AIL. It wasn't that the Clontarf support were outshouted: far from it. Its just that the Mary's support roared and cheered at every play, tackle ,knock on, refereeing error, punch, offside, scrum etc etc. 

It’s the underdog perspective on motivation …. The nothing to lose, pile in, give it socks, and see what happens on the day type of thing.

We had better get used to this ….. sides are going to focus on wrecking our patterns and our composure in order to reduce our game to a dogfight to try and get the upper hand. It requires discipline and control to cope with that. It also demands mental strength to accept the mantle of favourites without taking your opposition for granted.

On Sunday, Mary’s could have ridden their luck and stolen the prize from a far superior Clontarf side.

In two weeks time, home advantage for the Semi’s of the AIL will hinge on how we cope with the frenzied trench warfare in Templeville road.

I suggest we respect our opposition and bring our A game.

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