Clontarf sweep into floodlit cup final

A try either side of half-time steered Clontarf to victory over Old Belvedere at Anglesea Road last night and earned the North Dublin side a place in the final of the Smithwicks Old Belvedere Floodlit Cup for the third time. From the kick-off Clontarf looked the more assured side and they took the lead in the 14th minute when Mick Fitzsimons cut in from the left wing to take a neat pass from Matt Smith and weave a path to the posts for a fine try, converted by Ritchie Murphy.

Clontarf appeared to lose concentration for a period and handed a simple penalty to Belvedere's Robbie Ryan in the 20th minute. Worse followed two minutes later when their defence failed to clear Ryan's Garyowen and centre Craig Bewley was sent over in the left corner. Ryan added the conversion.

But then Clontarf roused themselves and took control of the match. Murphy narrowed the gap to just one point with a penalty before Mick Fitzsimons jinked his way past the Old Belvedere defence to score his second try. Murphy added the conversion to give Clontarf a 17-11 lead at half-time. If Fitzsimons was the star of the first half it was Bernard Jackman who took centre stage in the second. Within three seconds of the re-start the hooker blocked Ryan's attempted punt in midfield and sprinted to the line. Woods's conversion made it 2411.

Clontarf were helped no end in the second half by Old Belvedere's insistence on turning over possession at every opportunity and though Ryan did narrow the gap with his third penalty, Jackman capped a fine performance with his second try in the 67th minute.

South Africa not only lost 4022 to the French Barbarians in Biarritz yesterday but had loosehead prop Toks van der Linde sent off for stamping and banned for 60 days. Centre David Dantiacq was unhurt in the incident and completed the match, a warm-up game before the tourists take on France on Saturday.