Flannery stakes his claim as Shannon learn line-out lessons

Shannon 22 Cork Constitution 16

For the second time in three years, they were at it again at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Frankie Flynn belted out "There Is an Isle" with the help of friend and foe alike. The rivalry between Shannon and Cork Constitution will be even keener after this AIB League Division One decider but, if anything, the mutual respect has gone up, a point well made by the number of Con people who sang the Isle as lustily as any Shannon man.

At a time when the club game in this country is in a state of flux, they keep cropping up at the head of affairs in spite of having to operate under all kinds of handicaps. Shannon may be champions but Con finished on top of the league table for the third successive year. That's a mighty achievement on the part of both clubs.

Ominously, though, Munster coach Alan Gaffney was present on Saturday casting an eagle eye over potential acquisitions and would have seen enough of players like Brian Tuohy, Frankie Roche and Tom Hayes of Shannon and Cronan Healy, Tomas O'Leary and Shane O'Connor of Con to appreciate how valuable they could be to his cause in the very near future.

Jerry Flannery is already part of Gaffney's squad and it's a safe bet that he will remain so for some time to come. How he battled his way so powerfully and so selflessly through these 80 pulsating minutes less than 24 hours having done the same for Munster against Connacht beggars description. He won the man of the match award by miles and at 25 looks to have a great future. Munster's gain, of course, is Shannon's loss.

"We have a great work ethic in the club and, yes, I am knackered, but it was the last game of the season and worth pulling out all the stops," said Flannery. "I was tired after the match last night but I felt there were 80 minutes left in me.

"We're not the heaviest pack but when we put the phases together, we stretch teams and we have super gas out wide. There's a good blend in the team."

The introduction of O'Meara just before half-time rang a bell with Geoff Moylan who felt that Con wanted to get their kicking game going. Moylan said: "We let ourselves down in that respect and they went ahead. But we didn't panic and this team doesn't give up. Ever. We said build the phases when we get up there, hold on to the ball and a score will come."

Ironically, it may have been the lesson they learned when Con came from a distance behind to hammer Shannon at Temple Hill a month or so ago that made the difference this time. "That really hurt. We focused then on what needed to be done and our line-out, scrum, rucking all improved, areas where we were well beaten a month ago. They gave us a roasting in the line-out that day. They had us worked out so we changed a few things," said Moylan.

Moylan spoke with understandable pride of the character in his side, pointing out that they have won every trophy they competed for this year.

"They don't lose finals. The belief is instilled into them. They grew up with it, they inherited it, and it comes to the fore every time the pressure comes on. They never give up, they never panic. We spoke about how we worked four nights a week on dirty rotten nights out in Coonagh to get here today," he said.

Cronan Healy's well-taken first try augmented by three O'Meara penalties and a Conrad O'Sullivan conversion against four penalties and a drop goal by Tom Cregan pushed Con a point ahead on 61 minutes and there were one or two signs of disarray in the Shannon camp, not least when Eddie Halvey was done 10 metres for back-chat.

Crucially, however, O'Meara missed from 35 metres straight in front and you sensed that Shannon's spirits were lifted by the let-off. They stormed back into the attack and on 75 minutes replacement Stephen Keogh got over for the match-winning try.

Taking your scoring opportunities is essential in every sport and Conrad O'Sullivan's two penalty misses in the first-half and O'Meara's single failure in the second cost them dearly.

Brian Walsh said: "We had a kick to go four points clear and after that there were three plays when we tried to move the ball out of our 22 and put Anthony Horgan into a bit of space.

"We needed to keep pressure on them at that stage and we didn't do it. We turned over a line-out, they piled on the pressure and got a good score. Give Shannon huge credit - they know the way they want to play the game and it's extremely effective."

SHANNON: J. Lacey; T. Cregan, B. Tuohy, E. Cahill, M. Lawlor; A. Thompson, F. O'Loughlin; F. Roche, J. Flannery, G. McNamara, T. Hayes capt, T. Hogan, C. McMahon, J. O'Connor, E. Halvey.

Replacements: S. Keogh for O'Connor 49 mins; T. Buckley for McNamara 65; I. Dowling for Lawler 78.

CORK CONSTITUTION: A. Horgan; D. Dillon, R. O'Donovan, J.V. Igarza, C. Healy; C. O'Sullivan, T. O'Leary; G. Murray, D. Murray, M. Ross, S. O'Connor, K. Coughlan, D. Pusey, J. Murray capt, B. O'Connor.

Replacements: B. O'Meara for O'Sullivan 40 mins; D. Fogarty and C. O'Keeffe for D. Murray and Coughlan, both; P. Twomey for O'Connor 82.

Referee: A. Lewis (replaced at ht by D. Courtney).