Clontarf ... 23 Dungannon ... 13 Dungannon finished with six professionals on the pitch, Clontarf with two, yet not only did the home side pull through comfortably in the end at Castle Avenue on Saturday, there was nothing remotely surprising in that either.
Evidence of the changed times in the AIB League. As Shannon were the first to discover, and adapted accordingly, the availability of full-time players scarcely on nodding acquaintance with their club teams is a double-edged sword. This was a classic demonstration of how cohesive team play comes first.
A behind-the-scenes tug of war between Ulster and Dungannon over several of their full-timers meant they were unable to train last Tuesday evening when the players were not released.
The Dungannon coach Andy Earl declined to comment on this vexed issue, but clearly prefers to start players who train with the club during the week of AIL games, and so Kieran Campbell, Jan Cunningham and Aidan Kearney were all on the bench.
Not that they made a huge impact upon their arrival. Indeed, Dungannon's best spell was in the opening quarter. An audacious counter-attack by winger Seamus Mallon earned the field position from which the lively Mark Armstrong kicked the opening penalty.
He then converted an excellently worked try - Jamie Turkington sniping blind off a scrum, Justin Fitzpatrick, the speedy Jonathan Davies and fit-again Jeremy Davidson all setting good targets before the impressive Fitzpatrick broke through a tackle to score.
Clontarf didn't panic, however, and helped by a sequence of penalties and the sinbinning of Ryan Constable, kept hammering away until Bernard Jackman crashed through from Mike Walls's reverse pass and then James Downey broke Scott Roberts's tackle for Daragh McElligott to provide the link for Dave Hewitt's try under the posts.
Dungannon never really looked like clawing their way back.
"It's just part of the learning process and it doesn't happen overnight," said Earl. "There were some good points there and we have to work at them. When we started to work as a unit they did create space out wide, but Phil (Werahiko) has got a well-drilled team and while their pack may have looked smaller, it's about working as a unit. It's a team game.
"The more you train together the better you become," lamented Earl. "Obviously we didn't have our contracted players and that makes things difficult. Furthermore we have to develop a nucleus of a side without the (professional) boys. We'll just have to take it on the chin and learn from today."
The loss through injury of regular hooker Nigel Brady hurt Dungannon badly, and despite having Davidson and, after half-time, Aidan Kearney to throw to, Ben Gissing ate into their line-out to costly effect. With the chilly breeze behind them, it always guaranteed Clontarf a discernible edge and though they didn't go on to claim a bonus point, they did enough to keep Dungannon at arm's length, with the polished O'Shea tagging on a penalty and a decisive drop goal.
"I'm delighted with the win," said Werahiko. "Dungannon started well but I knew we hadn't got our hands on the ball and we hadn't been given the opportunity to do what we wanted to do. We didn't defend too well at the beginning and I thought we kicked too much into the wind instead of retaining it, but they woke up just after the try."
Thereafter Clontarf's retention of the ball was what pleased Werahiko most. "Nothing silly, just making those extra metres without throwing the ball and keeping momentum."
Clontarf are in the top four and Werahiko reckons they are better placed now than they were a year ago, and have the strength in depth to absorb the absence of Andy Dunne, Alan Dignam, Alan Reddan and, most recently, Warren O'Kelly with a calf injury.
But Thierry Foucher, nominally a hooker, filled in ably at loose-head and a feature of the match was how he and the under-rated Adrian Clarke went against two powerful opponents, while prodigal hooker Jackman gave a typical tour de force, and looked far too good not to be contracted with somebody.
The hunger remains, indeed the taste of the semi-finals last year has, if anything, hardened their desire for more of the same, and the retreating Dungannon players were suitably impressed and seemingly of one mind. Clontarf are top-four material again.
SCORING SEQUENCE
15 mins: Armstrong pen 0-3
17 mins: Fitzpatrick try, Armstrong con 0-10
20 mins: O'Shea pen 3-10
31 mins: Jackman try, O'Shea con 10-10
36 mins: Hewitt try, O'Shea con 17-10
40 mins: Armstrong pen 17-13
Half-time: Clontarf 17 Dungannon 13
57 mins: O'Shea pen 20-13
65 mins: O'Shea drop goal 23-13.
CLONTARF: D O'Shea; D Higgins, D McElligott, J Downey, O Winchester; D Hewitt, M Walls; T Foucher, B Jackman, A Clarke, B Gissing, A Wood, D Quinn, D Moore, S O'Donnell. Replacements: G Rossi for Downey (79 mins).
DUNGANNON: M Armstrong; S Mallon, R Constable, A Clarke, J Davis; M Bradley, J Turkington; J Fitzpatrick, M Farquhar, G Leslie, T Barker, J Davidson, A Boyd (capt), S Roberts, A Hughes. Replacements: J Cunningham for Davis (30 mins), K Campbell for Turkington, A Kearney for Boyd (half-time), P Curry for Leslie (66 mins).
Referee: L Mayne (IRFU).
