Clontarf ... 32 Buccaneers ... 17: The bad news for the rest is that Clontarf keep getting better. The advent of sunnier weather and harder pitches might have encouraged a hope amongst the chasing peloton that the runaway pacesetters would lose some of their momentum, but this 11th straight All-Ireland League win - equalling the first division record - dispelled that notion. And how.
The scoreline scarcely reflects their supremacy over a Buccaneers side that had travelled in fourth place and in high hopes of storming Castle Avenue.
But the northside venue has become well nigh impregnable alright, and this sixth consecutive home win was pretty much done and dusted, with even a bonus point tucked away, by half-time. Thereafter Tarf were in Hamlet mode.
"We want to win this outright," said coach Phil Werahiko afterwards, highlighting their desire to finish the regular campaign in first place.
"The pack were outstanding today. We didn't give Buccs good possession. We turned them over in contact and pressurised them on defence," he added.
Werahiko had little to find fault with but did insert a tactful nudge to his players: "We took our chances well, though we might have taken another three or four. We were a little bit selfish. The scoreline was irrelevant, but the guys know they could do better."
Buccs might console themselves with the misleading notion that they won the 50 minutes when the sides were equal numerically by 10-8, Clontarf scoring a brace of tries in each ten-minute spell in the first half when Gavin Schoeman and Colm Rigney were binned, the latter for reckless use of the boot that might have earned red rather than yellow.
While the first was "a 50-50 call" after a succession of under-siege infringements, John McKee had no qualms with the second.
"I've just told the boys that you can't play a team like Clontarf with 14 men," he said.
But he also admitted that Clontarf were the best side they'd faced this season "by a long way".
"We never got any rhythm but a lot of the credit for that has to go to Clontarf. They are strong right through their 15 and are very well organised," said McKee, who maintained Buccs will be a better side for the experience, especially if the sides meet again in the semi-finals.
Then again, this result will have been welcomed amongst the mid-table pursuers of the fourth semi-final spot who have inched closer to Buccs.
With that in mind, Clontarf won't have minded Shannon's slip-up either, though barring the Dungannon side of three seasons ago with all their full-time, backline riches in the foot-and-mouth campaign, it's hard to think of a better-organised, more complete club side than this Clontarf outfit since Shannon were in their pomp.
Given a home semi-final - and this win meant they are first to qualify for the play-offs - Clontarf look unbeatable. In fact, probably the only team that could beat them and so deny them a place in the final are Clontarf themselves.
They are rightly famed for the cohesion, scrummaging and mauling of their pack, but this win was garnished with some more colourful ingredients.
The first two tries were well constructed initially off counter-attacks from Buccaneers kicks downfield. Two more emanated from scrum pressure, and another was also from a training-ground, set-piece move from a line-out.
There might well have been a few more before a 70-metre turnover try by the under-served Wayne Munn and a late consolation effort by Rigney redeemed some self-respect for the visitors.
You look through this Clontarf team right now and, as McKee said, it's hard to find any weakness. Leading try-scorer Bernard Jackman, Ben Gissing and Dave Moore (whose two tries took him to within two of Jackman's haul of seven) would be relatively high profile, big ball-carrying thoroughbreds, but they have plenty of unsung work-horses too, such as the indefatigable Andy Wood and Simon O'Donnell, while Warren O'Kelly did a fair number on his fellow Munster-contracted front-rower Martin Cahill here.
But it is the ever improving potency of their back line that will have convinced the Clontarf faithful that this could be their golden year. In particular, the arrival and emergence of Dave Hewitt has given them a real playmaker at outhalf - and provided Werahiko with a pleasant selectorial headache when Andy Dunne returns in two or three weeks' time.
Meanwhile, 21-year-old inside centre James Downey goes from strength to strength, whether shoring up the defence or giving them a target runner up the middle to feed off. And as impressive as their cutting edge was the work-rate of their outside backs.
Barring stagefright or collective nerves, they're going to take some stopping.
Scoring sequence: 12 mins Downey try, O'Shea con 7-0; 19 mins Moore try, O'Shea con 14-0; 26 mins O'Shea pen 17-0; 37 mins O'Shea try 22-0; 40 mins Moore try 27-0; (half-time 27-0); 44 mins Munn try, Turner con 27-7; 47 mins Turner pen 27-10; 54 mins O'Brien try 32-10; 79 mins Rigney try, Turner con 32-17.
CLONTARF: D O'Shea; N O'Brien, C Mahony, J Downey, O Winchester; D Hewitt, R O'Reilly; W O'Kelly (capt), B Jackman, A Clarke, B Gissing, A Wood, D Quinn, D Moore, S O'Donnell. Replacements: J Wickham for O'Donnell (72 mins), D Higgins for Mahony (75 mins), G Flynn for O'Kelly, C Power for Wood (both 82 mins). Sin-binned: Clarke (70-80 mins).
BUCCANEERS: N O'Hara; T Robinson, D Yapp, W Wallace, W Munn; L Turner, C Keane; R McCormack, J McVeigh, M Cahill, E O'Donoghue, R Frost, G Schoeman, C Rigney, N Smullen. Replacements: J Meagher for O'Hara (61 mins), G Halligan for McVeigh (66 mins), G Kenny for Smullen (76 mins), D Hunt for Turner (80 mins). Sin-binned: Schoeman (10-20 mins), Rigney (33-43 mins).
Referee: G Doyle (Ulster).
