AIL Finals Previews

DIVISION ONE FINAL: Clontarf v Ballymena The parish of Clontarf and the town of Ballymena are both abuzz as their two sides prepare to contest their first ever AIB League final at Lansdowne Road today.

The Ulster outfit are hopeful of bringing up to 1,000 supporters to the game, assuredly their biggest travelling support ever, while such is the sense of anticipation on Dublin's northside that, depending on the weather, Clontarf believe they could have 6,000 supporters at the biggest game in their history.

Goodwill messages have been pouring into both camps, with Ballymena being sent on their way with support from Tony Blair, David Trimble and Ian Paisley as well as Dungannon, Ulster's sole winners of the competition a couple of seasons ago.

Neither club has ever known anything quite like it. Despite their lofty status in Irish rugby and the presence of such luminaries as Willie John McBride and Syd Millar, Ballymena are essentially a football town and the club are hopeful that these rare days in the sunshine will be a powerful spur for their youth development and local standing.

Such long-term thoughts will become more pertinent the moment the full-time whistle is sounded, for, more than usually, this is a last stand for this particular Ballymena team. Russell Nelson is off to Padova and Mark Blair to Narbonne, while some of the older guard may be contemplating retirement and the expectation is that they will see far fewer of their full-time, contracted players in the future.

That they are in this final can in part be attributed to Ulster's departure from the Heineken European Cup in the pool stages last January. Indeed, their rise to the top four and flying end-of-season form has echoes of Dungannon's march to the title in the season disrupted by foot-and-mouth.

They mightn't quite scale the heights of that star-studded Dungannon backline, but Ballymena are undoubtedly a potent outfit. James Topping is itching to run with the ball, and the feeling within Ballymena is that the wider, firmer expanse of the Lansdowne Road main pitch will suit them far more than the back pitch did for last week's semi-final win over Lansdowne.

Then again, their line-out maul carried them through that day, and with Gary Longwell restored to their line-up, today should witness a wincing clash up front between two heavyweight packs. Tony D'Arcy, the Ballymena coach, has the utmost respect for Clontarf. "They are a very settled side and most teams have struggled to cope with them." To that end, Irish defensive coach Mike Ford has been drafted in to help.

Clontarf scored 60 tries in the regulation, 12-game campaign - a record for the first division - and, remarkably, their forwards accounted for 30 of them, with hooker Bernard Jackman and number 8 Dave Moore scoring 20 of their 63 tries to date.

If that duo, and second row Ben Gissing, begin rumbling then Clontarf can start working their cohesive, well-drilled attacking patterns. Their back play, under the coaching of Kevin Nowlan, has also improved immeasurably and coach Phil Werahiko has gambled on giving them even more attacking variety by bringing in the London Harlequins-bound Andy Dunne at outhalf.

If they can handle the pressure of the occasion and the weight of expectation, Clontarf can get there.

CLONTARF: D Hewitt; N O'Brien, D O'Shea, J Downey, O Winchester; A Dunne, R O'Reilly; W O'Kelly (capt), B Jackman, A Clarke, B Gissing, A Wood, D Quinn, D Moore, S O'Donnell. Replacements: J Wickham, A Cullen, G Flynn, C Power, R O'Reilly, D Higgins, D McElligott.

BALLYMENA: P Wallace; J Topping, M Waterhouse, H Jones, S Young; A Larkin, P Spence; S McConnell, P Shields, B Young, M Blair, G Longwell, M McCullough, R Nelson (capt), N McMillen. Replacements: I Campbell, N McKernan, D O'Kane, A Graham, A Monson, A Maxwell, D Topping.

Referee: Alain Rolland (IRFU).

Previous meetings: (97/98 to 02/03): Ballymena 46 Clontarf 18, Clontarf 17 Ballymena 40, Ballymena 30 Clontarf 13, Ballymena 41 Clontarf 31, Clontarf 34 Ballymena 13, Ballymena 21 Clontarf 15.

Formguide: Clontarf - W L W W W. Ballymena - W L W D W.

Leading points scorers: Clontarf - Darragh O'Shea 137. Ballymena - Adam Larkin 73.

Leading try scorers: Clontarf - Bernard Jackman 12, Dave Moore 8, Dave Hewitt, Ollie Winchester, Niall O'Brien 6 each. Ballymena - James Topping, Andy Maxwell 7 each, Matt McCullough 6.

Betting (Paddy Powers): 1/2 Clontarf, 16/1 Draw, 7/4 Ballymena. Handicap odds (= Ballymena +6pts): 10/11 Clontarf, 16/1 Draw, 10/11 Ballymena.

Forecast: Clontarf to win.

DIVISION TWO FINAL

Dolphin v Old Crescent

Today, Lansdowne Road, 2.0

Bragging rights and about €3,000 in prize money are the only things at stake in the curtain raiser, although with Dolphin bedevilled by injuries and possibly sated by having gained the only promotion spot, Old Crescent may feel they have more of a point to prove.

Not that the Limerick side are without their problems, and the continuing absence of leading scorer and regular outhalf Stephen Tuohy has been compounded by half-backs Mike Mullins and Eoin Reddan being called into last night's trial match.

Mullins had been tried at outhalf with some success in last week's semi-final win over DLSPbut they will wait to see what condition he is in today before discovering whether he can again deputise.

Having missed out on promotion for the last two seasons on the final day of the regular campaign, Crescent must feel aggrieved, especially when they reflect on the 16-all draw between the sides last February.

Then, in the game's final play, Crescent substitute Paul McDonagh was haring upfield in splendid isolation after an interception whereupon one of his boots broke and fell off, allowing the cover to catch him.

"That was the difference, ultimately, between winning promotion to division one and missing out," reflects club PRO Pat Rickard Rickard ruefully.

Dolphin will be looking to their mobile, free-scoring back-row and their experienced, unrelated, O'Mahony half-backs, outhalf John being one of only four AIL players to have accumulated more than 1,000 points in the history of the league.

However, another factor pointing to a Crescent win today is the history of meetings between these two Munster rivals, Dolphin having won the first two head-to-heads but subsequently having won none of the last seven.

DOLPHIN: D Keeshan; J Purcell, B O'Neill, M Knowles, D Whelan; J O'Mahony, D O'Mahony; E Knowles, D O'Farrell, J O'Sullivan, D Pomeroy (capt), R McGrath, S Madigan, D Murphy, J Coughlan.

OLD CRESCENT: J Cusack; A O'Loughlin, S Stephens, M Brodie, F Hogan; M Mullins, E Reddan; S Murphy, L Browne, J Cullinane, I Bloomer, P Ryan, D Murphy, M T'Pau, D McDonagh.

Previous meetings: Dolphin 2 wins, 1 draw, Old Crescent 6 wins.

Formguide: Dolphin - W W W W W. Old Crescent - W W W W W.

Leading points scorers: Dolphin - John O'Mahony 167. Old Crescent - Stephen Tuohy 150.

Leading try scorers: Dolphin - W W W W W. Old Crescent - W W W W W.

Forecast: Old Crescent to win.