‘There Are Leaders Across The Board’ – Clontarf Ready For #EnergiaAIL Final
Clontarf head coach Andy Wood speaks to his players following last week's semi-final victory over Cork Constitution ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
It is an Energia All-Ireland League final on a Bank Holiday weekend at the Aviva Stadium, but Clontarf head coach Andy Wood says it will be ‘business as usual’ for his side’s preparations this week.
Clontarf face Terenure College at Irish Rugby HQ with a 3pm kick-off this Sunday. Five AIL finals have been staged at the Aviva Stadium and ‘Tarf have featured in four of them, winning one and losing three.
Interest in this final has been high, with attendance set to be the strongest ever for an All-Ireland League decider at the Aviva.
“I don’t think we’ll do much different,” Wood told Sam O’Byrne for Irish Rugby TV. “We’ll go about our business as normal, but we might have one eye on Terenure early in the week.
“They’re a fine side and we have a good idea of what they’re going to bring, but the focus will be on ourselves and continuing to do well what we’ve done up to this point.
“You look at the players that we’ve got in the team and there are leaders across the board. I’m always confident in the lads taking the messaging on board.”
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Men’s Division 1A was the only one not to have a game cancelled due to Covid-19, but it is clear that squad depth was massively tested for all 10 teams in the top flight.
Wood explained: “We’ve used 48 players. We’ve been working with the Under-20 coaches and seven or eight of those players have come up and played for us.
“The J1s have continued to deliver so when we’ve needed lads to come in, they’ve put in performances. That’s the beauty of it.”
AIL Finals At The Aviva Stadium
2015: Clontarf 17 Lansdowne 18 (1,933)
2016: Clontarf 28 Cork Constitution 25 (2,098)
2017: Clontarf 21 Cork Constitution 25 (1,984)
2018: Lansdowne 19 v Cork Constitution 17 (900)
2019: Clontarf 13 Cork Constitution 28 (1,000)
2022: Clontarf v Terenure College
(Attendance in brackets)