AIL League Division One / Clontarf 23 Galwegians 15: Most people stayed away, but the All-Ireland League crept back into action last Saturday with Clontarf ensuring it was business as usual at Castle Avenue.

It took them until early in the second-half to get into their stride, but the win was a huge relief, considering their squad was badly hit by the lure of the professional contract over the summer.

Nine players moved up to professional set-ups, but after getting a taste for what it is like at the top of the pile the powers that be decided to leave the whinging to other clubs and focus on re-building. Fast.

Dave McAllister, the Terenure schoolboy prodigy and last year's Irish under-21 outhalf, was recruited to fill the void left by the departures of Dave Hewitt, to Connacht, and Andy Dunne, to Harlequins.

McAllister didn't exactly wipe the floor with the opposition; he missed two of his three conversion attempts. However, he kept his new team clear with a calmly struck drop-goal in injury-time.

Unfortunately, the opposition weren't up to much. With an average age of 23, Galwegians, in their present format, will be perilously close to the bottom rungs of the ladder for the campaign.

After outhalf David Delaney kicked them into a 9-0 lead, in an uninspiring first half, the wheels simply fell off their challenge.

From the re-start Clontarf applied persistent pressure up front and the pace of full back Niall O'Brien duly delivered the first try.

Clontarf ruthlessly punished a weak defence out wide with two more tries by the hour mark from Gareth Rossi and Andy Wood.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 20 mins: Delaney pen 0-3; 35: Delaney pen 0-6; 38: Delaney pen 0-9; 43: O'Brien try, McAllister con 7-9; 46: McAllister pen 10-9; 51: G Rossi try 15-9; 59: Delaney pen 15-12; 63: Wood try 20-12; 79: Delaney pen 20-15; 86: McAllister drop gl 23-15.

CLONTARF: N O'Brien; D Rossi, D Higgins, C Mahony, G Rossi; D McAllister, B Wakely; J Wickham, S O'Donnell, S Brophy, C Power, A Wood, D Quinn, A Cullen, D Moore. Replacements: D O'Shea for D Rossi, G Kavanagh for D Moore (both 56 mins).

GALWEGIANS: R Lee; B Bartley, M O'Mahony, D Balcombe, J Cleary; D Delaney, J Heaslip; D McFarland, H Burke, F Farrell, C Murphy, B McClean, J Muldoon, I Muldoon, A Conboy. Replacements: M Uijs for H Bourke (h-t), Bourke for Uijs (68 mns), J McSweeney for R Lee (80 mins).

Referee: P Eakin (Ulster).