Ireland played a team which was unchanged from the Australian match. They preferred an extra batsman with Anderson to bowl any off spin required. Scotland had one new cap - McKiddie, an off spinner who replaced the injured captain GF Goddard. DER Stewart became Capt. Three others were new to the Irish match - J Kerr (medium pace), TI McPherson (slow left arm) and A Brown (opening bat). J Clark replaced the injured PA Rind; Eric Thompson was not available and H K More was "excluded".
The wicket at Clontarf was black and wet on a dull first morning. Watering allied to rain plus probably rolling when wet was the cause. It was not a wicket for driving and those who did perished. O'Riordan lost the toss after having won six in a row. Brown and Laing set off to the bowling of Corlett and Elder. Runs were very scarce. Laing was LBW to Corlett at one. Brown took 44 minutes to get off the mark. Monteith replaced Corlett for the 17th over with the total on 12. Racionzer hit Elder for two fours but at 24 Brown was caught off Monteith for nine. In his next over Racionzer snicked to slip. 33-3-23. The fourth wicket fell at 43 when Weir tried to drive Monteith and was caught at cover. The ball was turning but it was very slow. O'Riordan and Anderson had a bowl but the lunch score (39 overs bowled in two hours) was 59-4, Stewart 12 and Steele seven. These two went on for 48 minutes after lunch and added 32 more runs, Monteith and Anderson doing the bowling. Then Steele drove Anderson to extra-cover. O'Riordan misfielded, gave chase and from the boundary threw into Anderson's hands as Steele failed to compete a third run. 91-5-23. Robertson now kept Stewart company. 142 more were added in 67 minutes Corlett came back and suddenly Stewart went from 40 to 50 by hitting Corlett for 10 in one over. Monteith came back at the score box end, and, in his second over, he had Robertson beautifully caught by GP O'Brien at slip. 133-6-12. As 137 Clark was called at gully for three. Just before tea Kerr was caught at the wicket of O'Riordan (145-8) and just afterwards Stewart's long vigil (187 minutes for 53) came to an end when he drove Monteith to Anderson in the covers. The last pair, McKiddie and McPherson caused a 28 run problem. O'Riordan suffered most and McKiddie gave GP O'Brien a hard chance of Monteith at 155. Eventually Elder was called up and bowled McKiddie with his second ball. Kerr was O'Riordan's 200th victim in his 70th match. Monteith's figures were 40-22-54-5. This was fine accurate bowling on a slow turning wicket.
90 minutes remained and in it Ireland lost 4-48. Robertson had Short third ball caught at second slip. After 2.5 overs rain caused a 22 minutes stoppage. At 11 Robertson bowled Reith. Harrison (who had been dropped at the wicket when 0 - third ball in the first over in which Short had been dismissed) and Anderson went quietly along. At 32 McPherson came on. At 37, in his second over, he got two wickets. Anderson advanced and failed to reach the pitch of the ball and was caught at short mid-off. Two balls later BA O'Brien did the same thing. Corlett, sent in as night watchman, and with fielders surrounding him, hit McPherson's next over, and the last of the day, for seven. 48-4, Harrison 22, Corlett seven.
Next day was warm and sunny. Robertson and McPherson resumed and Corlett continued to hit when possible. He hit McPherson for a straight six out of the ground and soon passed Harrison. McKiddie came on with the total at 73 but really neither spinner bowled well on the now drying wicket. 100 came up and the stand reached 126 before Kerr got Corlett for 60. He flicked to leg but edged it high to mid-off. Corlett batted very well for 100 minutes in which 89 were added. At 136 McKiddie came back for the last over before lunch. O'Riordan overreached the second ball and gave square short leg a catch. 136-6-1. GP O'Brien struck McKiddie for 10 in one over but when 20 had been put on O'Brien lunged at McPherson and was caught at the wicket. 156-7-11. As 150, Harrison had reached 50 in 193 minutes He now speeded up and the second 50 came in 101 minutes With Monteith he took Ireland into the lead. Monteith did not face much of the bowling but scored three fours in his 17 before Clark got up with a leg cutter. Elder saw another 17 added before he was caught at long on. Just before Colhoun arrived Harrison (85) seemed to give a stumping chance off Kerr. Could Colhoun see Harrison to his century? The answer was he could. Harrison took a lot of strike - hit McPherson for a six and a four and reached 100 with a two to fine leg. The new ball was taken and then rather a stupid drinks interval. Robertson then bowled Colhoun at 231. 97 overs had been bowled, with Robertson the best bowler but the spinners not accurate enough. Harrison batted for 300 minutes with a broken toe and scored his second century for Ireland.
Tea was taken and there followed a 152 minutes session in which Scotland scored 78-4 and Ireland missed five chances. The start was again slow. Colhoun dropped Brown off Corlett at six. At 11, in the 11th over, Corlett again had Laing LBW. At 14 O'Riordan dropped Brown at short square leg off Corlett. Monteith was on with the total on 21 and saw Brown give Corlett a difficult chance on 29 at gully. In the 23rd over Corlett bowled Brown on a break back and in the next over Corlett had Racionzer caught at the second attempt at slip. Colhoun then dropped Stewart off his first ball and prevented GP O'Brien from taking an easy catch. Weir and Stewart added 33 before Anderson bowled Stewart for 10. McPherson came in as night watchman and was, in fact, caught at the wicket on the leg side first ball - he was given not out. The score at the close was 78-4, Weir 23, McPherson 0. 51 overs had been bowled.
The third day was also sunny and warm. Scotland were intent on a draw and batted very well. McPherson held out for 66 minutes in the morning and, indeed, made 28 runs in all in a partnership of 42. Elder and Corlett started but soon Monteith and Anderson were in harness. The wicket was now fairly dry but was becoming easy. At 97 Weir was dropped by Colhoun off Monteith when 28 - a vital miss. At 111 McPherson skied a simple little catch to BA O'Brien at backward square leg and this, too, was dropped. This, however, was not expensive. At 116 Monteith bowled McPherson to give him his 200th wicket for Ireland in his 39th match. Eight runs later he took his 201st when Steele was LBW sweeping. In 48 minutes Weir and Robertson added another 31. Corlett came on for a couple of overs in which Weir hit 10 to go to 51 in 188 minutes - an invaluable defensive innings. Corlett and O'Riordan took the new ball and Reith dropped Robertson at slip off Corlett. Then, at 155, Corlett had Weir LBW (51 in 212 minutes - the last 24 minutes of which were scoreless). With the last ball before lunch Corlett bowled Robertson (10 in 61 minutes). 160-8. In 6.4 overs Corlett and Elder finished the innings, both Kerr and McKiddie being caught by Colhoun. Corlett had 5-62 in 32 overs. Scotland, trying to hold out, batted for 109.4 overs in scoring 171.
114 therefore was the target in 73 minutes +20 overs. Reith faced the first over, a maiden from Robertson. Then Short, on "a pair", was LBW second ball to Clark. Harrison, with his broken toe, came in at number three without a runner. After nine overs the score was only seven. This, in itself, was a problem because only about 39 overs would be bowled in all. Then the wickets began to fall. Reith was LBW to Clark in the 10th over, pulling a ball not short enough. 7-2-4. In the 11th over Robertson took two wickets in two balls. Harrison got one that left him and Steele, took a good catch at the wicket diving to his right. BA O'Brien, also on "a pair", froze on a full-length Yorker which sent the off stump flying. 7-4-0. Anderson played the first ball of Clark's next over to short mid wicket and ran. O'Riordan hesitated and was run out by inches when Clark threw to Steele. 9-5-2. Now one felt it was survival. Anderson and GP O'Brien added six. In the 16th over O'Brien lunged at Clark and was caught at the wicket. Two overs later Clark bowled Corlett around his legs. 17-7-1. The spectre of the 25 against Scotland in 1965 loomed large. Anderson and Monteith took the match into the last 20 overs with the score still on 17. McKiddie replaced Clark for the fifth over of these 20. The fifth ball bowled Monteith. 26-8-2. Elder came next. Anderson was playing well. He reached 11 and kept most of the strike. In the eighth over of the 20 Robertson bowled him via bat and pad. He probably played forward when he ought have gone back. Clark came back. Elder stayed his end while Colhoun played Robertson. Together they lasted from the eighth over of the last 20 to the 16th. For this over McPherson replaced Robertson. Then Colhoun, unusually for him, "lost his cool". He advanced to the first ball, missed and was palpably stumped. The umpire was unsighted and gave him not out. The next ball was a very long long hop and Colhoun repeated the process. The match was over with 28 balls to go. It was a sorry procession and gave Scotland a totally unexpected win.