Energia All-Ireland League Rewind: Lansdowne v Clontarf
Energia All-Ireland League Division 1A, Aviva Stadium, Dublin 14/2/2020 Lansdowne vs Clontarf Lansdowne’s Craig Ronaldson and Michael Noone and Sean Kearns of Clontarf Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Brian Reilly-Troy
This Round 12 Energia AIL Div1a game from early February saw two Dublin heavy weights going head-to-head to try to make up ground on runaway league leaders Cork Constitution, Garryowen and UCD who were comfortably occupying the top three play-off spots.
Lansdowne v Clontarf
Energia AIL Div1a Round 12
Friday 14th February, 2020
2017/18 winners Lansdowne opened their season with a comprehensive victory over UCD but then lost their next five league games. They arrested this uncharacteristic run of form with five straight victories, a run that commenced with an away win at Castle Ave. Tarf were also experiencing a mixed season but had strung some decent wins together against Dublin University and Ballynahinch ahead of this fixture.
This game between 4th (Clontarf) and 5th (Lansdowne) in the league table could define the trajectory of their respective seasons – one chasing play-off glory and the other hoping not to get dragged into a relegation dogfight.
What resulted was a classic Energia AIL encounter packed full of drama with the score changing hands on seven occasions and the match winner coming in the 82nd minute.
LANSDOWNE 29 CLONTARF 28, Aviva Stadium back pitch
Scorers: Lansdowne: Tries: Darragh Murphy, James Reynolds; Cons: Craig Ronaldson 2; Pens: Craig Ronaldson 5
Clontarf: Tries: Sean Kearns, Tom Byrne, Matt D’Arcy; Cons: Sean Kearns 2; Pens: Sean Kearns 3
LANSDOWNE: Tim Foley; Cillian Redmond, Mark Roche, Conall Doherty, James Reynolds; Craig Ronaldson, James Kenny; Martin Mulhall, Dan Sheehan, Adam Boland, Mark Flanagan, Jack Dwan (capt), Jack O’Sullivan, Mark Boyle, Darragh Murphy.
Replacements: Conor Gleeson, Shane Moynihan, Cian O’Dwyer, Tim Murphy, Tom Roche.
CLONTARF: Jack Power; Sean Kearns, Michael Brown, Matt D’Arcy, Michael Courtney; Conor Kelly, Hugh O’Sullivan; Ivan Soroka, Dylan Donnellan, Royce Burke-Flynn, Cormac Daly, Ben Reilly, Tom Ryan, Tom Byrne, Michael Noone (capt).
Replacements:Â Tadgh McElroy, JP Phelan, Tony Ryan, Andrew Feeney, Gearoid Lyons.