Buccaneers will have left Castle Avenue feeling quite aggrieved at the sporting gods who denied them any reward for their sterling efforts last Saturday. This was not just down to the somewhat emotional decision to spurn the opportunity of a penalty kick in the last 10 minutes which would have lined them up for a bonus point at least, but also to the fact that, as the statistics will show, the visitors dominated both territory and possession in the first half only to finish it 11-3 down.
For Clontarf this was a seminal game. All pre-match reports indicated that Buccs were big and efficient with offensive threats throughout the side. All signs were that this would be a serious test made a little more tense by the absence of No.8 Martin Garvey who was attending a family wedding, and key lineout jumper Ben Reilly who will be out until February with a tricky chest injury.
We were not disappointed with Buccaneers, who powered into the game and dominated from the start. Unfortunately they met a resolute Clontarf side who defended brilliantly and simply refused to buckle. As fate would have it the home side also benefitted from a little luck as well so when they generated a relieving burst up the left hand side the referee missed what seemed like definite crossing and the move continued unstopped until debutante Mick Kearney, on for Ben Gissing, was put free to score in the corner with his first meaningful touch of the ball in AIL rugby.
No one would have blamed Buccs at that stage had they decided to throw in the towel but as the second half started they followed their earlier first half efforts with renewed force and were soon back in the Clontarf 22 where a ruck infringement saw Treston binned and Buccs generate a short side overlap and score from the ensuing scrum. From the following kick off they went wide and winger Monaghan executed a beautiful chip over the cover defence for their full back to score under the posts.
So ‘Tarf went from 11-3 up to 11-15 down in 10 minutes and alarm bells were ringing in Castle Avenue.
At moments like this everyone involved in the construction, coaching, and management of a side holds their breath. Much like watching a boxer take a serious blow from the safety of his corner, the support functions, at that point must sit and trust in the feral element in sport. Its what the Kiwi’s call ‘Dog’ or ‘will to win’ or ‘sheer bloody mindedness’, or ‘esprit de corps’…………. Whatever you call it, it arrives or presents, generally, when the chip are down, when you have shipped a big punch or turned over a good lead in a game where the opposition are big , strong and used to winning.
On Saturday Clontarf shook off the setback of losing their lead in that 10 minute period and upped their game to a new level of defiance. For the last 30 minutes they went toe to toe with Buccs and when the physicality had to be supported with skill they had buckets of that also. In a game of thrust and counterthrust it was the home side that showed the greater ability to conjure scores from turnover ball and when man of the match (and another AIL Division 1 debutante) Ross McCauley made a burst down the wing he had the support of Keating who took the scoring pass just as Ross took a blow to the face which saw the Buccs Number 8 into the bin. With 10 remaining out half Noel Reid showed that he is not just a prolific goal kicker with an exquisite chip and gather over the flat Buccs defence followed by a slick offload to put hooker Dundon in. The match ended as the skies opened with a monsoon like downpour. Clontarf maintained their 100% record and top division 1B.
If this game was anything to go by, the return fixture in Athlone on 5th Feb will be titanic.