A 23-point winning margin for Lansdowne doesn't do much justice for a hard-working Clontarf outfit depleted by injuries.

Clontarf, facing into a strong wind, were pinned in their own 22 for much of the first half, due mainly to some excellent kicking from Lansdowne's Barry Everitt.

It took Lansdowne a half hour to break the Clontarf defence through a Shane Horgan try. Everitt's conversion, along with two penalties and a superbly struck drop-goal left Clontarf 16 point adrift at the break.

However, Clontarf were dominant early in the second half, and out-half Richie Murphy converted a penalty. But crucially, he narrowly missed on two occasions. Substitute Shane McEntee's last-minute converted try, and Everitt's third penalty, added some gloss to the scoreline.

Scoring sequence: 9 mins: Everitt pen; 17: Everitt pen; 26: Everitt drop goal; 31 mins: try Horgan, Everitt con; 48: Murphy pen; 58: Everitt pen; 80: S McEntee try, Everitt con, 3-26

Clontarf: D O'Brien; R Casey, A Reddin, C Bewley, O Winchester; R Murphy, S Forster; I Glynn, D Hyland, A Clarke, D Moore, C Power, P Ward, B Devitt, C Brownlie. Replacements: T Kearns for Glynn (49 mins), C Brady for Devitt (65 mins).

Lansdowne: G D'Arcy; M Dillon, S Horgan, G Hamilton, R Dolan; B Everitt, D O'Mahony; R Corrigan, O Ennis, A McKeen, S O'Connor, G Quinn, A McCullion, L Toland, C McEntee. Replacement: R Nyland for D'Arcy (17 mins), S O'Neill for Ennis (65 mins), S McEntee for Quinn (66 mins), P McQuillan for McKeen (73 mins), F Bohan for Corrigan (77 mins).