Like the grubby clouds sweeping in over Castle Avenue, this game was far from bright or promising. Occasionally it rose to become compelling in a combative, muscular type of way, and big games from both packs insured a physical contest. This, combined with the squashy conditions under foot, put a premium on opportunism, sharpness and control around the loose play and mauls.
For Brent Pope's Clontarf it was a victory hard won, with the front eight taking the punishment and the backs romping over for the scores. It was bruising throughout, and often fractious; two home players, Bernard Jackman and Alan Dignam, were sin binned, and five others were shown the yellow card by referee Leo Mayne for sundry acts of aggression.
Clontarf finally won it, leaving even greater distance between themselves and the newly promoted Galway side.
Clontarf could well interpret the result as an affirmation of their ability; they can, in spells, dish up rugby canny and solid enough to make an impact in division one.
For Buccaneers, another hard lesson about survival as premier league debutantes will have been of little comfort. Although Stephen McIvor was vigorous and commanding, and Martin Cahill and Jimmy Screene prominent in the front row, ill-timed line-outs, handling errors and too many turnovers under pressure proved expensive.
Pretty it was not, and although the home side swaggered at the end, having earned the substantial cushion of two second-half tries, relief was the predominant emotion.
"If we'd have lost this match, we'd have been back in the bottom," said Pope. "That's what I said to the guys at the start. What I meant was that, in some respects, this was probably our most important match for maybe two or three years. One win and one loss now and you are already starting to think about relegation, and that's unfortunate for the game. But that's the way it is.
"To make the play-offs I think is possibly asking too much of us. In certain positions you've got to realise other sides have got a lot more. I think we are looking now at just surviving.
"In the game, I thought the forwards played as well as I have ever seen them. We knew Buccaneers were strong up front, especially their props and the Rigneys. They are not a team to shy away and nor are we. There was no malice involved, but it was physical from both sides. "We'd read that they used their runners in close and we shut them down, especially our front row. They answered a lot of questions in this game."
The match finally broke just after half time when the backs stretched their legs, and Ollie Winchester cracked through Michael Devine's tackle on the left to move Clontarf into an 18-9 lead.
Six minutes later a Clontarf drive up the right channel yielded a good platform. The recycled ball found its way to Turlough Meagher who knifed forward to feed Mark Woods, who had made his way from full back. Woods made further ground against the stretched defence and off-loaded to Matt Smyth who ran under the posts in Clontarf's best move of the match.
Earlier, place kickers Simon Allnutt and Clontarf's Richie Murphy had brought the sides to 6-6 before Declan O'Brien peeled off a Clontarf five-yard scum to crash over on 19 minutes. Murphy converted. Allnutt then again reduced the margin.
The bout of aggression that had been threatening for some time finally arrived, and, after two previous insignificant squabbles, a free-for-all ensued inside the Clontarf 22. But both teams stopped short of seriously boiling over, and the home side led 13-9 at the break.
Clontarf were without the suspended Henry Hurley and scrum-half Ronan O'Reilly, who had withdrawn injured just one hour before kick-off. Jackman and Dignam's indiscretions further reduced the home side's potency.
Buccaneers claimed a penalty try against 13 men in the dying minutes. But it came too late for a revival as Woods added another penalty and a sweet drop goal.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: S Allnutt pen 03; 5: R Murphy pen 3-3; 9: Allnutt pen 3-6; 12: Murphy pen 6-6; 19: D O'Brien try, Murphy con 13-6; 25: Allnutt pen 13-9. 52: O Winchester try 18-9; 58: M Smyth try, Murphy con 25-9; 60: Murphy pen 28-9; 74: pen try, Allnutt con 28-16.77: M Woods pen 31-16; 79: Woods drop goal 34-16.
Clontarf: M Woods; C Bewley, M Smyth, T Meagher, O Winchester; R Murphy, S Berti; W O'Kelly, B Jackman, P McQuillan, C Power, R Vorster, D O'Brien, P Ward, C Brownlie. Replacements: A Dignam for O'Brien (44 min), R O'Neill for Murphy (70 min), D Moore for Brownlie (77 mins).
Buccaneers: R Southam; M Devine, E Molloy, O Cobbe, D Beggy; S Allnutt, S McIvor; J Screene, J McVeigh, M Cahill, B Rigney, Donal Rigney, Des Rigney, E Brennan, N Mannion. Replacements: R Lee for Southam (68 min), C Rigney for B Rigney (76 min).
Referee: L Mayne (Munster).
