J1 League – Clontarf 29 St Mary’s College 25
by Mark Byrnes
Clontarf got 2011 off to a winning start with a fine 29-25 over St Mary’s at a windy Castle Avenue on Monday night.
Both sides went into the game unbeaten so it was always going to be a close and hard fought contest.
Clontarf played into a strong wind in the first half attacking towards the Clubhouse and they opened the scoring after four minutes with a well struck penalty from Martin Dufficy.
St Mary’s responded only minutes later with a try in the corner which went unconverted. St Mary’s full-back Gavin Dunne did slot a straight-forward penalty to put the visitors further in front.
A brilliant try from centre Colm O’Shea from a lineout move was just reward for Clontarf after 15 minutes and they increased the lead to 17-8 when the same player scored another converted try after a charge down and good ball retention from the backs and forwards. Dufficy converted both tries.
A series of scrums on the Clontarf line, led to the referee awarding a penalty try bring the visitors back to within two points and Dunne missed the chance to send Mary’s ahead at the break when his penalty went wide of the posts with the last kick of the half.
Clontarf began the second half best and sub scrum half Hugo Nolan made a break from the scrum to send Sean McKay in for a try which was again converted from Dufficy.
Clontarf secured the bonus a bonus point when Des Merry crashed over in the corner to leave it 29-15 going into the final 10 minutes.
St Mary’s scored two uncoverted breakaway tries in the last five minutes of the game but Clontarf hung on for a deserved 29-25 victory.