Pens: David Joyce 4
Pen: Scott Deasy
Jack Power; Rob Keogh, Michael Brown, Matt D’Arcy, Mick McGrath; David Joyce, Sam Cronin; Vakhtang Abdaladze, Jason Harris-Wright, Royce Burke-Flynn, Ben Reilly (capt), James Doyle, Tony Ryan, Karl Moran, Michael Noone.
Replacements used: Ivan Soroka for Abdaladze (22 mins), Sean Long for Brown (60). Not used: Jonathan Larbey, Neil Reilly, Mark Sutton.
Eamonn Mills; Daniel McEvoy, John O’Donnell, Mark Roche, Mark O’Keefe; Scott Deasy, Matthew D’Arcy; Jacob Walshe, James Rael, Ian Prendiville (capt), Josh O’Rourke, Stephen Gardiner, Joe McSwiney, Charlie Butterworth, Willie Earle.
Replacements used: Tyrone Moran for Rael (half-time), Alan Bennie for D’Arcy (67 mins) Not used: Greg McGrath, Philip Donnellan, Charlie McMickan.
David Joyce amassed all 12 of ‘Tarf’s points in this Friday Night Lights encounter, and after Scott Deasy was off-target from a late penalty, Lansdowne came away empty-handed from their fourth league defeat of 2016/17.
The two sides have evenly shared the last four Ulster Bank League Division 1A titles, but with 10 wins under their belt, Lansdowne entered this game with a seven-point lead at the summit of the top-tier table.
‘Tarf were boosted by a recent bonus-point away success over Old Belvedere, however, and they took the lead with just under four minutes gone on the clock.
David Joyce had kicked to touch from an early penalty, but after Lansdowne were penalised inside their own ’22’, the reliable out-half make no mistake with his first effort from the kicking tee.
‘Tarf were forcing the visitors into the concession of numerous penalties, and the ever-influential Joyce doubled his side’s lead in the 14th-minute. They suffered a set-back just beyond the first-quarter mark, as former Ireland U20s prop Vakhtang Abdaladze was forced out of the action through injury.
However, another successful Joyce place-kick moved ‘Tarf into a nine-point advantage, and with Lansdowne second-row Josh O’Rourke sent to the sin-bin on 28 minutes, they were aiming to push on for the remainder of the half.
Yet, Lansdowne held firm in defence, and ex-Cork Constitution fly-half Scott Deasy reduced their half-time arrears to six points (9-3) with a superb penalty strike from distance.
This kept the league leaders within contention as the action resumed, and even though try-scoring opportunities were few and far between throughout the contest, Lansdowne gained a significant amount of possession during the early stages of the second-half.
Yet, ‘Tarf were quite disciplined without the ball, and when Joyce stepped forward for his fourth kick of the night 16 minutes after the restart, he split the posts in confident style.
This left Lansdowne with a mountain to climb in the closing-quarter, but as the final whistle approached, they were establishing a foothold inside the ‘Tarf 22-metre-line. A powerful drive towards the whitewash almost yielded a try for the Ballsbridge men, but strong work from the opposition rearguard held them up just shy of the line.
When Deasy opted for the posts from a distance of 25 metres from the final play of the game, it did look like Lansdowne would secure a losing bonus-point. His kicked drifted past the right-hand posts, though, and the Clontarf faithful toasted their eighth league win of the season.
Referee: Gary Conway (IRFU)