AIL Match Report: Buccaneers 11 Tarf 6
by Mark Byrnes
Clontarf suffered their second league defeat of the season to second placed Buccaneers in a disappointing encounter at a wet Dubarry Park.
Buccaneers were out of the traps quickest and controlled the game for the opening quarter. Their only reward was a penalty from scrum half Adam Kennedy on ten minutes after he had missed with two earlier attempts.
Clontarf found their feet in the second quarter and an unfortunate penalty miss from Noel Reid left the visitors still trailing.
Five minutes before the break, Clontarf made great strides towards the opposition line but a combination of good defence and an unfortunate knock on, meant the opportunity was missed. So it remained 3-0 to the home side at the interval.
Clontarf began the second half brighter and Noel Reid landed a superb penalty to level matters, but Kavanagh responded on 50 minutes for a 6-3 lead for the midlanders.
Unfortunately for Clontarf, Reid was having an off day with the boot and missed three successive shots at goal as the rain continued to fall.
With twelve minutes remaining Clontarf duly drew level with a Reid penalty after pressure on the home side rewarded. Buccaneers had been reduced to 14 in the lead up to the incident.
However Martin Garvey was harshly sin binned shortly after and once Buccaneers were back to a full compliment, they scored the match winning try with just two minutes remaining.
The conversion was missed and time ran out for Clontarf who went away with a losing bonus point on a disappointing day.