Although only a small segment of the battle actually was fought close to the seafront in Clontarf, you can never let the facts get in the way of a good rugby match. So it is that the Millennium Celebrations, to the day, of the historic Battle of Clontarf on Good Friday in 1014 will feature a rugby match between Clontarf and the Barbarians under the same billing at Castle Avenue next Wednesday.
Organisers have already sold 650 tickets for a pre-match dinner in a marquee which has been installed on the back pitch, as well as 2,500 tickets, and are hopeful of a 4,000 capacity attendance.
The game is being sponsored by Danske Bank, and as part of the pre-match pageantry, the match ball will be delivered to referee Nigel Owens by parachute in time for the 5.30pm kick-off.
The pity is that Clontarf may have again failed to reach their Holy Grail of a first Ulster Bank League title, and after four losing finals and a runners-up finish without play-offs, Clontarf appeared to finally have one hand on the trophy when beating Old Belvedere 20-13 in one of the games of the club season at home in front of a huge crowd on the last Friday in March.
Reclaim top
That took them top of the table on points difference from Old Belvedere, with a game in hand, but they have since contrived to lose away to UCD (33-39) and Lansdowne (27-34) to allow Old Belvedere to reclaim top spot by two points going into tomorrow's final round of games.
Old Belvedere travel to relegated Garryowen, the former club of their coach Paul Cunningham, in a game televised by RTÉ while Clontarf host Ballynahinch, who must win to have any chance of avoiding the relegation/promotion play-off.
Cian Healy was in attendance for the Old Belvedere game. “That was something else. It was a great one to get to. The club was buzzing and there was a great crowd for both sides. I was happy to get to that.”
“It kind of held our conversation for the whole night after it. I was with Paul O’Donoghue – the Connacht scrumhalf and from here and we were constantly talking about the defences and how neither were breaking down. I was just thinking about that and having a chat about how the level of rugby that came out of the game was right up at the highest standard.”
He clearly hasn't forgotten his roots. "I think it did a lot, but it wasn't only rugby," Healy says of his formative club career. "It kind of changed me as a boy, changed my view on things and everything and set me up a bit differently going into life which is something I didn't expect to get out of a sports club. I look back on that and that's one of the things I'd cherish about the place." He'll be getting updates tomorrow in the hope that the final day might finally go Clontarf's way.
Elusive first title
"It's been tipping over and it has to go over the edge soon," is how he describes that search for an elusive first title. "The lads put in so much effort and getting close to it so many times is a bit of a 'heartacher'. It'll make the day sweeter when it does come."
Clontarf are only the fifth Irish club to have the honour of playing the Barbarians, and the first in 23 years, and Healy didn’t rule out the possibility of him making an honorary appearance for the home-town club he last played for in 2007, although admitted this was largely dependent upon Matt O’Connor’s position.
More pressing for O’Connor will be making sure Healy manages his ankles sufficiently to contribute to Leinster’s push for the Pro12 title, which Healy cites as important in maintaining the province’s momentum.
“We’ve had that success and I think it’s the first time we haven’t been in a European quarter in a while. I don’t think the Rabo’s been done back-to-back. It’s still something pretty big for us playing for that.”
Leinster go into this evening's match with Treviso still top of the table but wounded. "We haven't been in a phase where we've had defeats in a while," said Healy. "We've been in quite a good position with our rugby. We went down to two tough teams and came out second so I think it's pretty important this week for Leinster to just get our basics right, play a good game and stick it out. It could 60/70 minutes before it starts to open but we'll have to hammer it in for that long.
“There’s still been quite a positive mood. Like I said, they were two good teams and they played good facets of rugby. We were pretty disappointed in things like discipline and stuff. That got summed over heavily in a few intense meetings. We’re pretty happy with what we’re capable of when we have the heads right in training and things like that.”
