It was always a big ask to beat the (new) league leaders again away from home, but oh, how tantalizingly close we came. Nearly a hundred points scored in a titanic struggle, you couldn’t take your eyes off this for a moment, but sadly the hosts edged us out with a cruel penalty kick deep into injury time.

But let’s start at the beginning.

Things couldn’t have started better as we showed the hosts our attacking chops inside the first three minutes. From the kickoff, we set up a series of phases and captain for the day, centre Rory Parata broke the gainline creating crucial space for scrumhalf Jack Matthews on his inside to carry at pace and draw his tackler before passing inside to Andy Marks who went in under the posts. Stephen Madigan topped it up with a conversion and we were 0-7 and looking really sharp.

We kept the tempo and precision up for the next ten minutes with charges coming down the middle from forwards Harry Van Eeden and Juan Beukes as the backs too ran hard lines and seemed to find gaps all over the pitch. A sequence similar to the first try led to another perfectly timed run from try-scoring sensation Andy Marks and he charged over for his brace (probably stretching his record in the AIL into the bargain). Mads did the honours again and it looked like ‘Tarf didn’t have any answers. 0-14

But if conventional play wasn’t going to present opportunities to the hosts, determination, a certain amount of athleticism and a lot of luck were. From the restart the ball came out of our ruck and the clearance kick was blocked by a giant leap by their second row, Fionn Gilbert. The ball bounced erratically over our score line and seemed to be heading safely over the dead ball line when, damn those oval balls, if the last bounce didn’t hold the ball up a bit, just enough for Gilbert to touch it down, performing a circus somersault in order to stay in play. 7-14

But the rugby gods hadn’t abandoned us entirely and luck as well as skill played a part in our next few moments too. First, Stephen Madigan opted to take a penalty just inside their half. Now, he had been kicking well, but his earlier challenges were half this distance. But he backed himself, struck the ball sweetly and over it went to keep the scoreboard going in the right direction. 7-17. But two could play at that and within moments of Mads’ great kick, their Ten, Con Kelly slotted one over too to keep them in touch with us. 10 - 17

And then came our bit of luck. We work down the pitch again and force a tryline drop out. A mis-kick sends the ball straight into Ruari Clarke’s catching mitts and as if that wasn’t jammy enough, the defender running out to tackle him, lost his footing and hit the deck, leaving a barndoor size gap for Ruari to charge in under the posts, and for Mads to top it off. 10-24

But if we caught Tarf on the hop in the opening moments, they were wide awake now and with half time ten minutes away, the advantage shifted firmly to their side. Sure enough, their hard running forwards started to make deep inroads into our territory, in spite of our valiant defence After working their way powerfully up the right-hand side of the pitch, the ball came out to their 10 and he hoofed it all the way across the pitch to their left wing who went over in the corner. An excellent try, topped unfortunately by a conversion of equal quality right on the touchline. 17-24 

But there was to be no respite from their pressure and they eliminated the gap entirely with another well worked and converted try right on half time. 24-24.

The mistakes that had started creeping into our game before the break made their presence fully felt as the second half resumed. As well as occasional errors in judgement and handling, our scrum was now on the back foot and in a game of such narrow margins, these were enough to put us under serious pressure. The pressure wasn’t long finding expression on the scoreboard as their hooker and captain Dylan Donnellan scored from a ten-meter lineout. 31 - 24

Now we were falling foul of the officials too, as referees and touchies seemed to be queuing up to find fault with our lads. Pinned back inside our '22 for what seemed an eternity, we conceded yet another penalty and were punished again by their big pack with a try from the lineout maul that followed, this time their strong number 8, John Vinson inflicting the damage. The only mercy being that it wasn’t converted and it was 36 - 24

But don’t stand up and leave the cinema yet, sports fans, this story has plenty of twists and turns in it yet. Cool heads and remembering how to attack are our weapons of choice for the next chapter and we start attacking their territory with a passion. Their defence is fierce, but we hold on to the ball through several phases. The telling move starts with a clever cross field kick by Mads against the flow into space and we have them on the back foot. We set up our attack inside their '22 and we get a penalty advantage but keep attacking with second row pairing Ruari and Juan working like a left-right combination Ali would have been proud of. Eventually it’s Rory Parata that puts it down in the corner and we’re back in this game at 36 - 31. Our resurgence continues as we enter the final quarter with ultra hard-working Juan Beukes intercepting a pass and sprinting the 20 meters to the line, carrying two defenders for the last five! Mads converts and we’re back in front 36 - 38.

But it’s a short lived lead as they get another penalty and kick it over from a distance, 39 - 38. The drama continues as they start to make some errors too and we resume the attack with winger Peter Sullivan making another intercept. But Clontarf infringe seriously again, and in a decision that caused Lansdowne alickadoos all over Castle Avenue to fight amongst themselves over the defibrillators, the offending player was given a yellow card, but no penalty try! “Surely you can’t have one without the other” came the plaintiff cry from Southsiders all over the ground. And though we got an attacking lineout from the penalty, we misfired and lost the ball.  Tarf must have considered themselves extremely fortunate to exit their 22. But not for long. Oh no. Our attacking mojo hadn’t left us and again we stretch their defence left, right and down the middle and finally it’s winger Hugo McLaughlin that goes over in the corner. 39 - 43 with just over ten minutes of ordinary time to play.

Now our scrums are more comfortable with theirs down to seven men and we win a scrum penalty, allowing us back into their 22. Another dizzying attack - again kudos to our S&C coach Daniel Moore, these lads are fit! - and Cillian Redmond goes over in the very same corner, perhaps putting the game out of reach. But no, the officials again saw things differently and Clontarf enjoy another easy exit. We get a penalty inside their half and Mad puts his magic boots back on to edge us further ahead to 39 - 46 as the end of ordinary time approaches. (Glad you didn’t leave now, aren’t you?)

But Tarf work back into our half and win a lineout and, with a clarity of vision strangely absent earlier, the ref awards a penalty try to the hosts. Yes. I know. A penalty try. 46 - 46.
As the full time approaches, some Lansdowne fans might have felt that a draw was a fair result (though not many). Imagine their wails of horror and disbelief, when well into stoppage time, Clontarf are awarded a penalty and in the last kick of the game, plunge the sword deep into Lansdowne’s heart. 49 - 46 Full time.

An epic tussle it has to be said and we took two points away and gained a place up the table, but it was very hard not to leave Castle Avenue bitterly cold and bitterly disappointed for what might, or maybe really should have been.


Match Report - Brian Whelan


CLONTARF 49 LANSDOWNE 46, Castle Avenue
Scorers: Clontart: Tries: Fionn Gilbert, Tadhg Bird 2, Dylan Donnellan, John Vinson, Penalty try; Cons: Conor Kelly 4, Pen try con; Pens: Conor Kelly 3
Lansdowne: Tries: Andy Marks 2, Ruairi Clarke, Rory Parata, Juan Beukes, Hugo McLaughlin; Cons: Stephen Madigan 5; Pens: Stephen Madigan 2
HT: Clontarf 24 Lansdowne 24

CLONTARF: Mark O’Sullivan; James McKeown, James Conroy, Tadhg Bird, Stephen Ryan; Conor Kelly, Sam Owens; Ivan Soroka, Dylan Donnellan (capt), Ben Griffin, Fionn Gilbert, Jim Peters, Callum Smith, Aaron Coleman, John Vinson.

Replacements: Barry Gray, Charlie Ward, Luke Brady, Will Reilly, Conor Gibney, Oran Walsh.

LANSDOWNE: Cillian Redmond; Peter Sullivan, Andy Marks, Rory Parata, Hugo McLaughlin; Stephen Madigan, Jack Matthews; Jerry Cahir, Chris Poole, Greg McGrath, Ruairi Clarke, Juan Beukes, Jack Cooke (capt), Liam Molony, Hardus van Eeden.

Replacements: George Morris, Jack Treanor, Clive Ross, Barry Fitzpatrick, Harry O’Riordan. Oisin Devitt.