It did not help the home side that the first play of the second half saw a long kickoff , a kick to touch for a Tarf throw, a maul followed by a pass to Dave Hawkshaw who stepped inside his man, straightened and put Alex O’Grady in under the posts. It came like a crossbow bolt to the eye of the Tipp men.
Clontarf followed up quickly with a mauled score to Alex Usinov for 0 14 and, even at that early stage, it looked like curtains for Nenagh. Clontarf, now benefitting from the elements continued to apply maul pressure and Sam Owens got in after the pack brought it to the line for 21 nil.
Nenagh got in after a misdirected kick gave them a lineout just inside the Tarf 22 for 5 21.
As we moved to full time, Tarf went in search of the bonus point and camped in the home 22, where they managed to draw Nenagh into a mangle of repeated scrums.
Finally the pressure told and the ref awarded a penalty try to Tarf for 5 28.
The game pretty much fizzled out then, with a lot of slipping and sliding and general mudlarkery.
Nenagh got in at the death but to use the cliche it was too little, too late.
Fair dues to Nenagh. They shook things up and took risks which given a modicum of luck could have paid off.
In the end Clontarf’s superior skill kept the scoreboard static and when the teams changed ends there was really only going to be one winner.
Next week we welcome our good friends from the drumlins of Co Down , Ballynahinch. The game doubles up as both the final AIL game before Christmas and the Final of the Bateman Cup (Kick off 4pm), so there will be excitement. It will be followed by the players Christmas Party, so there will be carnage!