Superb defence and ace penalty taker Cregan inspire Shannon to victory

Shannon 28 Garryowen 15

With a maul that threatened to overrun Shannon on its own, and was the vehicle for their two tries, touched down in turn by their two superb flankers, the Conors Varley and Hartigan, time after time Garryowen took this game to Shannon.

However, a combination of poor handling and superb Shannon defence, denied them the additional scores their powerful play deserved, while the metronomic boot of Tom Cregan kept the Shannon effort ticking over on the scoreboard.

It was 15-7 to the visitors at the break, Cregan having opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a mighty effort from the right wing straight into the diagonally-blowing breeze, before Garryowen replied with the first of those mauled tries.

Off a lineout, 20 fast metres gained, the powerful Shane Leahy and even more powerful Simon Kerr prominent, then a series one-metre grunts before Varley got the final touch. Shannon replied, a brilliant five-man slick-handling move started by outstanding open-side Johnny O'Connor, to captain Tom Hayes, through Fiach O'Loughlin and Garrett Noonan, Cregan rounding it all off with a lovely little swerve inside the last man, touchdown in the corner. Naturally, he thumped over the conversion.

Two minutes into first half injury-time Cregan began the move that led to Shannon's second try, picking the ball off his bootlaces on the right, switching the play left, beautiful back-line move that included a long skip-pass by Andrew Thompson to set centre Brian Touhy away. Cregan missed the conversion.

Second half and again Garryowen looked the more industrious side for long periods, but where they were mostly threat and little return, just a penalty from full-back Mark Connolly and that second mauled-over try, Shannon capitalised on almost every opportunity.

Two superbly-struck penalties from Cregan, an opportunist solo try from team captain and man-of-the-match Tom Hayes when he somehow stole the ball from Connolly. That was the 73rd minute, put the visitors 28-15 ahead, game over. Garryowen huffed and puffed their way to within inches of the Shannon line, but twice lost the advantage when the combination of Brian Buckley (magnificent also) and Hayes turned over crucial Garryowen ball in the lineout.

All in all, a very satisfying afternoon for Shannon, and for coach Geoff Moylan especially. "We didn't get the fourth try, but we didn't come here for any bonus point today, just the win. No matter how good or bad either of these teams are going there's never anything in it when we meet, so the scoreline today is probably as much as has been in it in the last few years. Our lineout worked well, but we didn't defend it very well on the ground, that's something we'll have to work on, though they've got an exceptionally good maul."

Beaming also, ear to ear, was Tom Hayes. "You have to be happy Garryowen in Dooradoyle, it's not too often we put one over on them like this. We had our tails up at half-time, so we decided at half-time to have a cut for the bonus point. They don't come too easy over here, we didn't manage it in the end, but we'll take the win."

Not so happy, understandably, was Garryowen's Aussie coach, John Warr. "Very disappointed, frustrated more for the lads than for myself. They're training two, three nights a week, working their backsides off, put in a great effort today but once again they seem to be on the wrong end of a lot of decisions. That third try, even the Shannon players were saying it was a definite knock-on, and it's those kind of decisions that turn a game. When you're part of a game as tight as this and that happens, it's crucial. Anyway, we're not far away from being a good football team. We battle well against the top sides, but can't seem to break through, get the win we deserve. Our maul did well but we lost control at crucial times, lost a bit of discipline in the second half especially, gave away a couple of penalties we shouldn't have.

"Give Shannon credit however, they capitalised on everything, and that's something they're very good at. They punished us when we made mistakes and that's the mark of a good professional side."

SHANNON: J. Lacey; T. Cregan (1T 3P 2C), B. Touhy (1T), E. Cahill, D. O'Donovan; A. Thompson, F. O'Loughlin; G. McNamara, J. Flannery, F. Roche (T. Downes 65); B. Buckley, T. Hogan (N. Conroy 42); G. Noonan, J. O'Connor, T. Hayes (capt. 1T).

GARRYOWEN: M. Connolly (1P 1C); C. Casey, D. Crotty, K. Hartigan, D. Heaton; A. Purcell, B. O'Brien; S. Kerr, G. Walsh, R. Laffan (R. Callaghan 52); S. Leahy, D. Sheehan (F. Costello 70); C. Varley (1T), C. Hartigan (1T), P. Malone (capt).