Where does the AIL go from here?
Cunningham was glowing in his praise of the way his side have battled over the past couple of months until they finally added the league title to the Munster Senior and Junior cups and AIB All-Ireland Cup already adorning the Dooradoyle sideboard.
Luck was on their side on several occasions in recent times but, when it came to defending their single point advantage on Saturday, the Garryowen coach had no doubt as to why they held on.
“For the last three or four months, these guys have dogged out results and never given up,” he declared. “The defence in the last 30 seconds was outstanding. Con played really good rugby all day, Denis Hurley at full-back was a beautiful performer, but at the end we wanted it so much not having won it since 1994.”
It was perfectly understandable that Cunningham should be thrilled with his side’s victory and as an on-the-record admirer before the game of Alan Lewis as one of rugby’s finest referees, he was never going to criticise him no matter what happened.
On the other hand, it can be safely assumed that the official will not be on Brian Walsh’s Christmas card list.
“I felt strongly that we should have had a penalty in the dying minutes,” claimed the Con coach. “They came in from the side twice blatantly. Neville (Paul, the Garryowen captain) grabbed McKee (Peter, the Con scrum-half), so that he couldn’t pass the ball and was interfering with play.
“Then he stayed there and Lewis told him to get out of there. There was an infringement and there should have been a penalty. It’s hugely frustrating that the result of a game of such quality played in such good spirit with not a huge amount of penalties in it can be dictated by a poor decision.”
Whatever about the rights and wrongs in those pulsating late moments, it was just as well that the excitement at the end atoned for the mediocrity that had gone before.
I beg to differ with those who claimed the game was an outstanding advertisement for the AIL. It was full of genuine effort and commitment and, of course, a nerve-wracking finale and a few players on both sides put their heads above the parapet to reach acceptable heights. But for quality of football, it was a long way short of what could have been reasonably expected of the two best club sides in the country playing in perfect conditions.
Where the AIL goes from here remains to be seen. Garryowen coaches Paul Cunningham and Killian Keane are calling it a day, with the former of the belief that the number of teams in the top division needs to be reduced if the competition is to provide the type of player required by the provinces to make an impression in the Heineken Cup and Magners League.
The success of the Munster team over the past ten years or so has been largely due to the grounding most of the players gained in the highly competitive AIL of the 1990s. Those days are gone and it would be unreasonable to expect that standards could be anywhere near as high given that the top players are now centrally contracted and no longer available to the clubs.
However, the league should, indeed must, remain a worthwhile stage for the younger Irish players to gain the essential experience and to hone their skills. There were a few out there on Saturday who would certainly benefit from operating on the edge week in, week out, instead of coasting all too often through one-sided games.
Saturday was a far different scenario and thank heavens for that. When Garryowen and Cork Con clash, there’s rarely the kick of a ball between them and so it was on this occasion. Ironically, Garryowen made it by a point because their out-half Eoghan Hickey, who otherwise had a distinctly patchy afternoon, kicked the goals that mattered. Their forwards gave them a decent enough platform and members of the Munster management looking on would surely have taken note of second-row Mark Melbourne and hooker Damian Varley.
Although they were pinned in their own territory for much of the afternoon, Con were the more dangerous attacking outfit, a point made by two beautifully taken tries.
It was fitting that they should have been touched down by centre Tom Gleeson and full-back Denis Hurley. Both ply their trade in positions where Munster are likely to be short of talent next season and both confirmed what has been apparent for some time — they are quality footballers who deserve their chance in a provincial shirt.
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