Clontarf earn place among the big boys

CLONTARF have arrived at long, long last. To describe them as sleeping giants may be stretching it, but Clontarf have at last awoken from their slumber and begun to tap into something that perhaps no southside club has going for them. This win to clinch Division Two proved it.

It had been a tense afternoon for the estimated 1,000 crowd, but nearing the last five minutes the inevitable was becoming reality. To the rhythmic chant of "Tarf, Tarf, Tarf", a thundering break by their quick, mobile hooker Bernard Jackman raised the rafters. Clontarf would be rubbing shoulders with the big boys next season. They knew it and Bective knew it.

The formal invasion duly followed, as an out-numbered, out-fought and out-sung Bective had long since succumbed to the northside invasion. Donnybroo normally only experiences this sort of thing for schools' games.

It all serves to reinforce Clontarf's unusual, if not unique, standing in Dublin as a club with a real sense of identity. Clontarf are a community club.

On the day that another title was Limerick-bound, this is important enough, for the Clontarf supporters were probably worth an extra score to the visitors. As in every sport, players respond to big crowds and passionate support.

"We're indebted to all the people who turned up and it's great for the north side to have a team in the First Division," said their coach, Brent Pope, a key man in the transformation from Division Three relegation candidates two-and-a-half years ago to top tier material.

"If Clontarf beef up their squad, then the combination of promotion euphoria and Pope's galvanising style could see them do more than just survive. But they know this, and clearly have a vision. "We'll be staying there," vowed the pro-active and progressive Barry Teeling, a bit of a character as club presidents go.

Pope has yet to sign an extension to his contract beyond this season, and the New Zealand philosophy has it that three years is about as long as players listen attentively to the same coach. But he admits: "I feel a sense of loyalty to the club. We've come a long way together in two-and-a-half years, and I'd like to have a year with them in the First Division.

"But we're aware of the magnitude of the task facing us. We do need a few new guys. We need big forwards. No disrespect to the lads who played, but today we overcame disadvantages in physique and size.

The opening halves demonstrated how the bigger packs of the top flight might overpower them. Bective's, too, is biggish, and for the first four minutes following Ben Kealy's kick-off until his opening penalty they owned the ball.

For much of the first quarter they continued to have their fair share of possession into the breeze. As with much of Bective's grinding promotion bid this season, it was never pretty expansive, or pretty for that matter.

When the pack weren't taking it on, usually through their strong-running flanker Trevor Brennan, Vinny Cunningham was either popping it back inside or using the useful Ian Dwyer to make some good yardage. Then it would be recycled, ponderously.

It was clear that Bective's only hope was if their pack dominated for much of the 80 minutes. Only when the game was dead did they move the ball wide for the one and solitary time.

Within minutes of Bective's initial salvo, Mark Woods levelled, and though he drifted a 22-metre penalty wide after 12 minutes it already seemed fairly clear who was going to win. In that swift, if brief, response, Clontarf were recycling and moving the ball much more quickly.

Their back-row were outstanding, providing an impenetrable wall around the fringes to stifle Brennan, in particular, and driving Clontarf over the gain line from their own ball.

Arguably the biggest single difference between the sides was the speed with which the back-up runners cleared the ball from the ball-carrier when tackled, enabling Ronan O'Reilly to move it on more quickly than his counterpart, Alan O'Shea, was generally able to do.

With Clontarf taking tap penalties quickly and generally injecting more tempo into their game, it was modern-day against old-style rugby, a New Zealand-influenced game against an out-of-date Irish one. Probably more fun to play in as well.

A fitter Clontarf pack outmanoeuvred the home eight, proving a good little `un can still beat a good big `un. Three more Woods penalties put them clear. Understandably, they didn't let their backs loose when they might have in the final quarter.

Clontarf will interrupt their upward spiral next week with a celebration at home to Greystones. Plans are afoot for a band and marquee. Teeling, stressing he is neither "anti-feminist" nor "fattist", is looking for a 25-stone lady. It's time for some singing.