Ballynahinch 24 Clontarf 24
Who would have bet on a draw ! I can’t remember the last time, or even whether, Clontarf drew an AIL fixture.
Both sides will be feeling a mixture of disappointment and relief after a game which never settled into a pattern. It is fair to say that all actors on the stage had a dose of the wobbles at some point in the proceedings. That includes the officials who wobbled a bit at interpretation of the breakdown and even had difficulty with the conversion of a Clontarf penalty. Both defences were given wide latitude at the ruck, which resulted in bodies everywhere and inevitable slow ball and difficulty building phases. Louis O’Reilly seemed to spend a lot of time wading through Hinch jersies to get at the ball. This left the game dependant on accuracy at the set piece and conversion of penalties.
Unfortunately, the normally reliable Clontarf lineout wobbled at crucial times deep in home territory, which let our hosts off the hook and denied us a lead to defend with comfort. Ballynahinch have made great progress over the years and are a team to be respected and feared. They emphasised this by opening the scoring after five minutes with fast hands on the blindside, which released their right wing, who put their busy supporting fullback in under the posts.
Clontarf replied with a rumble to Dylan Donnellan and two superb penalties into the wind from Con Kelly. We started the second half at 10 11 and when Tadhg Bird scored and Con Kelly added a penalty for 10 19 it looked like we were going to pull away.
The home side had different plans and hit back immediately with two tries. One after solid pressure was grunted in near the posts and another after the ball was batted around in the air like a basketball, only for the home backs to put shape on it and aided by a little jersey pull on a defender, they got in for a 24 19 lead and not much time to go!
Clontarf worked field position down the left and the trusty lineout maul and Dyl tied the sides as we eased towards 80 minutes.
A late flurry from both sides created anxiety, but little else and the referee declared a draw and two points each. Thanks to all who travelled and major thanks to Ballynahinch, whose warmth and generosity creates a unique side-line experience. I believe the lunch, as usual, was superb and the clubhouse with the game streamed inside was a glue pot! Even the weather played a part and was a benign autumnal experience. Next up we have second placed Cork Con in Castle Avenue on Dec 2nd. We have had some success against Con in recent seasons which will be foremost on their minds for this visit.