St Mary's v Clontarf
Author: Peter Walsh
2003-12-08
St Mary’s 21 Clontarf 25


Clontarf recorded their first win with a bonus point on Sunday in a bright but chilly Templeville rd. Mary’s will be cursing their luck because despite being seriously outgunned up front they put in a massive defensive performance to neutralise the Clontarf backline and were leading as the game moved into injury time.

The game opened with a score to Mary’s after just three minutes had passed when centre Fifield caught the ‘Tarf defense asleep and found flanker Jennings in support to dot down under the posts. Out Half Lynn converted for a seven point lead which was pulled back to 7 3 when Dave McAllister converted a penalty. Tarf then upped a gear and a crashing break by Downey was recycled quickly and a skip pass saw full back O’Shea home. Five minutes later the pack rolled a lineout for prop O’Kelly to score leaving Tarf 13 7 ahead. The home side refused to lie down and a good spell of ball retention and quick hands saw them score despite having two men in the sin bin for delaying the release. Again the Out Half converted to leave it 14 13 to Mary’s at the break.

The second half saw some serious huffing and puffing from Clontarf with not a lot to show from it. All too often hard yards earned by the forwards were squandered due to lack of penetration out wide where the Mary’s backs and Jennings at no 7 had a field day picking off the Tarf runners and turning over possession. It was not surprising that Tarf regained the lead from a situation similar to the second try, a lineout , a rumble, another rumble and Kearney found himself in space on the blindside and whipped in for the score. Mary’s reply was almost immediate, another turnover, quick ball and fullback Hughes squirmed out of a weak tackle to score near the posts. With Mary’s now leading 21 18 Tarf made a change bringing on Rossi and moving O’Brien to 13 .

As the game moved towards the close it looked like Mary’s might hang on but to be fair their pack was tiring and ‘Tarf had made up their collective minds that grinding was the way forward. The ball disappeared for long periods as the superbly drilled forward unit rumbled at every opportunity and finally with injury time approaching they made the crucial breakthrough. Mary’s had been rolled back for the umpteenth time when it finally went wide; there was space and O’Brien skipped around his man to score beside the posts. McAllister converted for 25 21 and the forwards gobbled the restart, mauled it to the Mary’s 22 for the drop goal attempt. It missed but that was the game over.

Ugly Ugly Ugly………… we’ll take the five points and get back to the training field.

From the Management ,Coaches and Players; may we wish everyone a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year. If you are doing nothing on the third of January and need something to raise the blood pressure and move the pudding and wine from your arteries then Castle Ave is the place for the rematch of last years final versus Ballymena.

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