March 30th 2009

CLONTARF maintained their drive for a Top Four berth when they inflicted a 46-26 AIB League Division One defeat on Buccaneers at windswept Castle Avenue, Dublin, on Saturday.

Indeed they had the game and a Bonus point in the bag by the end of the opening quarter, and such were the handling and tackling errors by the midlanders that many of their supporters must surely have been rueing not going to the U-20 Cup match at Lansdowne. Thankfully, Buccs rallied on the resumption to salvage some pride and also what could prove a priceless Bonus point in a high-scoring encounter that yielded 11 tries.

Buccaneers fielded a pack along expected lines with Clifford Richardson again demonstrating that he has so much to offer but Alex Hayman joined Sean Carey on the injured list with Aidan Wynne coming in at centre and Danny Riordan returning at fullback while John O’Brien switched to wing. Hayman’s absence was felt early on for his tackling and organisational skills and, playing against the cool, strong breeze in the first half, Buccs were embarrassingly poor particularly in the opening quarter.

Clontarf swarmed all over them like a tsunami in that period and they were greatly helped by dreadful defending, notably a woeful lack of commitment in the tackling department. The Dubliners could not believe how much space and time they were being afforded, and they promptly took full advantage to run in four quickfire tries to take an early winning grip on the match. After just five minutes, Martin Dufficy’s mazy run made far too much ground too easily and Niall O’Brien was on his shoulder to score the opening try at the posts. Darragh O’Shea converted and five minutes later the centre got acres of freedom in the build up to Ben Reilly’s try in the right corner.

Skipper O’Shea benefitted from further porous defending on 14 minutes to ease in for his side’s third try which he also converted before Phil Howard waltzed through four defenders for the Bonus point try and a 24-0 lead by the end of the opening quarter. It was humiliating but Buccs finally got some passes together and showed what they could do with quick hands and smart support play that saw Kieran O’Gorman find a gap and he laid the ball off to Alan Gaughan for a well-worked 24th minute try which the centre also converted. Three minutes later, however, some dazzling footwork by Max Rantz-McDonald caused consternation in the Buccs defence and earned a home penalty which O’Shea converted.

Then, when it seemed that Buccs had steadied their ship, they lost possession inside the home half and Clontarf promptly got the ball wide to O’Brien and, as the Monivea man has done so often in the past, he tormented Buccs when having too much pace to score a breakaway 34th minute try which Dufficy converted excellently. That put Tarf 34-7 ahead, a scoring rate of one point per minute, and half-time could not come quickly enough for the visitors.

Benny Gilligan replaced the injured Kevin Moran for the second half and immediately Buccaneers set about redeeming themselves, showing much better ball retention. Within four minutes of the restart, Kolo Kiripati stormed over for a try wide on the right but Gaughan’s conversion kick was deemed wide. Seven minutes later, Buccs opted to tap a penalty wide on the left outside the home 22 and when possession was moved to Kiripati there was just no stopping the Buccs flanker and Gaughan’s conversion meant that the now 19-34 arrears did not look insurmountable.

Buccs were now forcing the tempo and, suddenly, Clontarf looked ordinary and vulnerable but Adrian Clarke took some steam out of Buccs revival when he led a maul for a 64th minute try. From the restart, Buccs got good territory again and went for broke from another penalty but spoiled a good opportunity by opting for a long skipped pass in the difficult breeze. The ball fell behind John O’Brien and, with the momentum lost, the chance evaporated. After 73 minutes, Mark Bruce got quick ball away to Riordan who drew two tacklers before off-loading to O’Brien who was running a smashing supporting line and he angled in for the try of the game which Gaughan converted to leave Buccs trailing 26-39 and a miracle still looked possible.

Kiripati looked like powering in through a number of tackles before the combined forces of halfbacks Dufficy and Sean Treacy just edged his foot into touch one step short of the home line. Then, in the final move of the game, another ambitious Buccs pass went awry and who else but Niall O’Brien intercepted inside his own 22 to scamper away for a cruel length-of-pitch poacher’s try which Dufficy converted with the last kick of the game to complete the 46-26 scoreline in favour of Clontarf.

Following their whirlwind start, Clontarf were always going to be the winners but once Buccs got some shape and order into their play they made the homesters look ordinary enough. But victory earned revenge for the northsiders for their Cup eclipse in Dubarry Park whilst also keeping them in the top half of the league table. Buccs can take credit for their fightback that made the second half so exciting and interesting but, in reality, their absolutely dreadful opening quarter was inexcusable. Weak tackling helped Clontarf build their winning advantage while poor passing too often denied Buccs’ scores.

Adrian Hanley battled manfully from the off and Kiripati was influential in the second period. Bruce had a decent outing and O’Brien was best of the three-quarters line while Michael Diffley also toiled commendably. Dungannon’s win over doomed Terenure College meant that Buccaneers dropped one place in the league table but the precious Bonus point earned (unlikely looking at halftime) could yet prove priceless for Buccs with just two series of fixtures remaining.

Buccs next match is a “winner-takes-all” battle at home to Young Munster on Easter Saturday.

BUCCANEERS:- D.Riordan; J.O’Brien, A.Gaughan, A.Wynne, P.Harte; S.Rolleston, M.Bruce; M.Diffley, M.Madden, K.Moran; C.Richardson, J.Tormey; K.Kiripati, K.O’Gorman and A.Hanley (captain). Replacements used:- B.Gilligan (for Moran, h-t), G.Halligan (for Madden, 57 mins) and C.Watters (for O’Gorman, 70 mins).

CLONTARF:- P.Howard; M.Rantz-McDonald, D.O’Shea (captain), B.O’Donnell, N.O’Brien; M.Dufficy, S.Treacy; A.Clarke, A.Dundon, N.Treston; B.Reilly, D.Sheehan; H.Stride, N.Carson and S.Crawford. Replacements:- C.Keegan (for Howard, 46 mins), M.Garvey (for Sheehan, 61 mins), D.Lambert (for Clarke, 71 mins), P.O’Brien (for O’Shea, 78 mins) and B.Focas (for Stride, 80 mins).

REFEREE:- David Wilkinson (Ulster)