CLONTARF remain on course for a home draw for the play-off 's following this emphatic victory over bottom of the table County Carlow at Castle Avenue yesterday.

The home side reached something of a milestone in their season when Breffni O'Donnell went over for their fourth try of the afternoon on 32 minutes. His score helped Clontarf register their tenth bonus point of the season. What Carlow would have done for 10 points of any kind.

Darragh O'Shea had put Clontarf in front with a penalty on seven minutes with wing Niall O'Brien seized on a fortunate bounce before sprinting over the line.

O'Brien and Marc Hewitt then exchange passes to set up Clontarf 's second try, O'Brien offloading to Hewitt before a Carlow wing had the chance to put in a challenge.

With Clontarf 's pacy back row taking the game to Carlow, Clontarf continued to pile on the agony for the visitors.

Try number three saw Fiach O'Loughlin release outhalf Peter O'Brien with O'Shea adding the conversion.

Although Carlow were then awarded a penalty try, Clontarf finished the half with converted tries from Breffni O'Donnell and Darragh Ffrench.

That left Clontarf leading 32-7 at the break and they added two more tries from Philip Purdue and Derek Keane before Andy Melville handed the visitors a belated score with 20 minutes remaining.

CLONTARF D O'Shea; N O'Brien, M Hewitt, B O'Donnell, D Keane; P O'Brien, F O'Loughlin; K Dorian, N Carson, R Sweeney, A Trenier, A Wood, D Ffrench, J Ellison, P Purdue. Subs B Jackman for Carson, 53 mins; A Cullen for Ffrench, 60 mins; K O'Dowd for O'Shea, 62 mins; M Rantz McDonald for Keane, 71 mins; A O'Donnell for Sweeney, 71 mins.

COUNTY CARLOW B Murphy; R Barber, T Bonnefoy, G Jacob, R Jackson; S Ruai, R Jones; K Corrigan, A Galvin, L O'Byrne, A Mihajovic, D Seraphin, D Cox, R Porter, S Hennessy. Subs A Melville for Porter, h-t; S Gibbons for Jones, 50 mins; R Armstrong for Ruai, 57 mins.

Referee A Rolland(ARLB)