Con pass Shannon test

CORK CONSTITUTION had to peak twice before shaking off the determined challenge from old rivals Shannon at Temple Hill on Saturday to enhance their position at the head of the AIB League table.

As the scoreline suggests it was far from easy, and Constitution had to rely on two last quarter penalties from Jeremy Manning to see them through against dogged rivals.

Shannon fell 11 points down in the opening half and the deficit would have been more had Manning taken full advantage of his goal-kicking opportunities. Apart from kicking two first quarter penalties, he missed two more and failed to convert the first try of the match – from Frank Cogan – after 23 minutes.

That they came back to push Constitution was a source of satisfaction for coach Colm Tucker, who said: “We showed a lot of character to come back to where we were at the start of the second-half; we scored a very good try, but unfortunately we couldn’t sustain the effort.”

Shannon fought back with a penalty from David O’Donovan who also converted a smashing try from rookie winger Luke O’Dea, but that was as good as it got.

Constitution conceded all those 10 points when reduced to 14 men – Cogan was yellow carded for a technical offence – and the scoring chances that later fell to Manning were the product of increased endeavour by the Constitution pack on Cogan’s return.

Constitution coach Brian Walsh was relieved, having felt that the first-half buffer of 11 points might not be enough, and he praised his charges for the effort in the last 15 minutes. “It was put up to them but they responded very well; we lost our shape for a while, got it back and finished strongly.

“The good thing is that our destiny is in our own hands; we have three games to play, we’re three points up with a game in hand so it’s a pretty happy place to be in at this stage of the campaign,” he said.

CORK CONSTITUTION: D. Lyons, R. Lane, A. Ryan, E. Ryan (captain), C. Healy, J. Manning, D. O’Driscoll, M. Gateley, R. Quinn, S. Archer, M. O’Connell, B. Hayes, B. Cuttriss, F. Cogan, P. O’Mahony.

Replacements: E. Leamy for Cuttriss (63), G. Murray for Gateley, A. Horgan for Manning (both 75)

SHANNON: D. O’Donovan, L. O’Dea, F. McLoughlin, A. Finn, S. Kelly, G. Quinn-McDonnagh, R. Guerin, L. Hogan, M. Essex, K. Griffin, P. O’Brien, F. Walsh, S. Duggan, D. Quinlan (captain), J. O’Connor.

Replacements. P. Loughnane for Quinlan (injured, 33), G. McNamara for Hogan (75), R. Mullane for Finn (injured, 76).

Referee: A. Rolland (IRFU).