Clontarf welcomed Young Munster to Castle Avenue on Saturday to one of the rare outings on the 4G surface, as the main pitch resembled Leitrim, there being so much standing water on it!
Playing on the 4G has the feel of Russian Roulette about it. The fast surface encourages speed because levels of accuracy are higher, so the skill premium pays dividends. Get it wrong and a gazelle from the opposition can leave you standing wondering “what the hell just happened there?”
Clontarf opened the proceedings with familiar play. We kicked off, earned a penalty, kicked to the corner, Fionn took the lineout, mauled forward and after some grunting and groaning Ben Griffin scored for 5 nil.
We then enjoyed 15 minutes of YM dominance in the scrum, which gave them access to our 22 cancelled by Tarf dominance in the line out, which drove them back out again. I suppose you could call it Lanigan’s Ball rugby. Eventually, after Tarf were pinged for a high shot, Munster’s got a lineout right and mauled in for 5 7. Tarf then set up camp in the Munster’s half and after a few false starts at the lineout, finally managed to align the stars and scored a beauty. From a lineout on the Munster’s 22, the ball was popped off to JJ O’Dea who linked with Louis O’Reilly, who in turn found blind side winger Noah Sheridan on a burst. The recycle saw JJ bring centre McGiff on at pace and his telling surge made space for Ru Byron and then Josh Murphy, who carried two defenders over for the try and 10 7.
Clontarf added a third after a period of Munster’s dominance was relieved by a kick and chase down the right wing by Noah resulting in a Munster’s lineout, which Josh Murphy plundered. After a number of heavy carries JJ came on a late burst up the side of the ruck and Tony Ryan was on hand to pick and score for 17 7 at HT.
The second half started badly for the visitors when they failed to recycle a super break out to the Tarf 22. Ben Griffin set it up with a short burst and a minute later Munster’s were forced to put the ball out for a Tarf lineout on their own 22. Some slick handling put Noah clear on the right but he lost his footing and had to rely on the rumbling pack to create space for a Matt Darcy untouched touchdown and 24 7. From this point Tarf pretty much set up camp in the visitors 22 and the Munster’s efforts to relieve the pressure were taking a toll on the injury front. Even having possession of the ball wasn’t helping because the home pack were swarming like hornets around the breakdown refusing to allow a stable ruck. A ruck is never stable when Josh Murphy is around it! They say nature abhors a vacuum ….. Josh abhors rucks. I’d say back in the day, he was the kid on the beach stomping everyone’s sandcastles!
To their credit Munster’s refused to fold and aided by a nasty crack on the elbow for Ru Byron, which sent him to the sideline and debatable yellow card for Tony Ryan who followed him, they began to rebalance the stats. It required a superhuman effort from sub scrumhalf Angus Lloyd to hold up a Munster’s attack on the Tarf line. Tarf lifted the siege and two penalties saw us back into the visitors 22, where a mauled lineout created momentum and
Matt Darcy put Mikey McGiff into a gap for a certain try. A tap tackle denied him but he had the composure to pop it up for Con Kelly to take the honours. That was pretty much that.
Young Munster got a consolation try from a scrum after a long kick was adjudged to have been knocked on. They could have added another after a searing break down the left but Con Kelly was obliged to do the superman defensive act in the corner after, to his horror, he managed to catch the flying winger. That was pretty much the last action of the match. 31 12 to Tarf and three weeks to recover and focus on the final pod of three games. This win guarantees Clontarf a top 4 spot and a place in the semi-finals. Venue and opponents yet to be decided!!