TARF HOLD ON AT LAKELANDS
26/03/2007
Terenure 27 Clontarf 39


10 tries were scored in this Lakelands slugfest as Clontarf took the win, a bonus from the game , and Terenure took a slug of credibility in their first season back in Div 1.
For the neutrals this was a classic with the result in doubt right to the finish. For the terminally biased Clontarf support this had the makings of a nightmare. Clontarf jumped to a superb start and scored a wonderful try with pretty much the first move of the game; Pete O’Brien skipped to Max R at 13 who took his man on the outside and arced back in to round the cover with an enormous burst of pace. Shortly after the pack drove Kenny Dorian over and when O’Shea got in 5 mins later we were looking at a slaughter for the home side. Unfortunately there was a slight issue with our maul defence which allowed ‘Nure in for a simple score. So after 20 mins ‘Tarf were leading 21 5 and the game was poised to go one of two ways. The first option is to maintain momentum, tighten your patterns and play mind games with the opposition who now have to chase the game; knock it over them, make them play in their own half and feed on their errors. The second option is to up the risk stakes, force a few passes , lose concentration , forget about the basic skills like tackling , catching , body position , what do do with a four man overlap 5 feet from the opposition line etc etc ….
So needless to say we took the second option and Terenure accepted a few Clontarf gifts and piled back into the game. Their second score came just on half time when ‘Tarf got confused defending a maul on the blindside. That took us to half time at 21 10.
In the second half the home side scented blood and hunted Tarf all over the park gleaning the opening score of the second half.
It is one of the great truisms of sport that, like when you burst a balloon, when a dominant side loses momentum they find it very difficult to get it back. Clontarf however, were still dangerous and Fiach O’Loughlin got in for a good score but we just couldn’t shake ‘Nure off. Spurring them on was our inability to secure their kick off ball which invariably left them with the ball in our 22 where they happily mauled away for more scores. This led to a we score you score second half where the only people enjoying it seemed to be the ref and the linesmen. It wasn’t until Pete O’Brien at 10 nailed a huge penalty and then followed up with a super drop goal that the away supporters could come off the oxygen.
So we move on to Castle Ave and Garryowen on the 7th April. 
Sympathy goes to Niall O'Brien who dislocated a shoulder and will be out for a while.

On Sunday the J1’s continued their sparkling season with an away win over a fancied Seapoint side in the Metro cup. This was a horse of a match in front of a big noisy crowd. Seapoint are the current holders of the Metro Cup and are also on a great run in the All Ireland Junior Cup so they had every reason to be confident. The Clontarf side was superb with the pack fronting up to the larger opposition with some style and courage. Despite giving the home a side an intercept try in the first five minutes the Clontarf team never wavered and some of the ball retention under pressure was immense. At out half Brian Collins kicked 100% and led the line with aplomb;outside him Keegan and Kennedy tackled like lunatics and were almost flawless in attack. One little cameo summed up the day; defending in our own 22 we turned over Seapoint ball and Ronan Dillon whipped the ball back to his out half to discover to his horror that loose head Cian Healey was defending in the 10 channel. With the Seapoint line bearing down on him the prop spiralled a kick 50 yards to touch ….. You see!! ….. Not just a big lump!

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