Such a typical post-Christmas game, with all of the inaccuracy you would expect after the long break. It doesn’t help either that the fixtures are bookended pre and post-Christmas, so we end up playing the same Club in game 10 that we played in game 9. Surely it would make sense to play in the same order as games 1 to 9 with home advantage reversed.
On Saturday Tarf and Hinch renewed rivalry, after Tarf prevailed in the Bateman Cup final before Christmas. The games followed a similar pattern, although this game was dominated by post-Christmas rustiness, rather than the storm that marred the final.
The first quarter was eminently forgettable, with the exception of Clontarf’s defence, which managed 3 turnovers. to cancel its set piece inaccuracy. Hinch opened the scoring with a penalty early and dominated territory for the first quarter because Tarf were giving them the ball at every opportunity.
It wasn’t until deep into the second quarter that Tarf got some field position and, as the cobwebs loosened, the vision cleared, that the forwards set about the Down men and, after some pounding, the ball was transferred left to right and Tadhg Bird put Alex O’Grady in under the posts for 3 7.
Five minutes later Tarf were back and Fionn Gilbert got in, again , after minutes of pounding on the Hinch line. It wasn’t pretty, but in the circumstances it was appropriate and effective. Hinch added another pen for 6 13 which took us to half time.
The second half opened with a try to Peter Maher after a strong maul created space on the left. With the score now 6 20 there was some comfort for Clontarf. However, they failed to deal with the home restart and a penalty to Hinch saw them camped in the Tarf 22. Tarf went down to 14 men after a knock on by Peter Maher was deemed deliberate. Hinch took advantage and brought the score to 13 17 with the usual noisy home support starting to smell an upset.
As we approached 55 mins gone, Hinch tapped a quick penalty and went long to the Tarf 22. The defensive kick resulted in a home lineout, resulting in another penalty and a kick to the corner. Despite being held up, Hinch came again and were awarded a penalty try on the right, when their lineout maul was impeded. Unrestrained joy on the sideline and the Tarf bench filling up with yellow cards!!
So, into the fourth quarter we go with the score 20 17 and the visitors now down to 13 men.
Tarf worked the ball left and made good ground into the Hinch 22 where a combination of clear tactical thinking, brute force, and a succession of home penalties gave the visitors a steady stream of possession which was ultimately converted by Alan Spicer for 20 24. It was a superb score by the 6 forwards, made from sheer bloody mindedness and a refusal to yield. Clontarf were not the normal shiny machine, but they reverted to grunt when necessary and it saw them home. That was the end of the scoring but not the excitement as a Tarf penalty well into injury time fell short, was run back out and required a little more hacking at the coalface before Hinch were whistled for crossing and Con Kelly did the needful and calmed the heart rates of the visiting support.
So, two weeks before we welcome Nenagh to Castle Avenue for the first time in the history of both clubs.
