Cahill: Bruff wake-up call has Shannon wary of road ahead

Wanderers and Lansdowne captains Michael Kevany and Ross McCarron join Ulster Bank’s Joanna Fitzpatrick at the Aviva Stadium.

TOURNAMENT specialists Shannon last week received a timely warning that forewarned is forearmed in advance of the Ulster Bank League kick-off around the country today.

Defeat in the semi-final of the ODM Munster Senior Cup at the hands of Bruff was a particularly chastening experience for Shannon’s assistant coach Eoin Cahill, who last season picked up a Bateman Cup medal with the county Limerick side.

Cahill is now back in the Thomond Park based club – along with player coach Stephen Keogh – with whom he won AIL and Munster Cup medals before going back to his local Bruff to finish out his playing career.

And now, he is looking at Bruff to help provide the necessary wake-up call as Shannon embark on their league campaign with a home tie against Dolphin.

“The loss to Bruff was a timely reminder that you can’t afford to relax for a minute at this level,” he said.

“There was no arguing with the result and hopefully it will bring it home to us what needs to be done in the weeks ahead.

“And it won’t be easy [this] Saturday; Dolphin do play a nice brand of rugby and they’ll attack us in key areas of the pitch.”

The league takes on a new look this season in that there will be no play-offs at the end of the season. That format comes a year too late for Cork Constitution who finished in pole position only to lose the decider in the last few minutes to Old Belvedere.

Constitution begin their campaign in Dublin against Lansdowne and do so without two of their most influential players last season, Frank Cogan and Richie Lane, who have moved to the capital and will now play for Clontarf .

The progressive north Dublin club is fast becoming a home from home for Cork personnel; the former Constitution captain Evan Ryan and ex-Dolphin players Sam Cronin and Barry O’Mahony are also in situ at Castle Avenue. They open the campaign across the city in Blackrock and will expect to return with the spoils against Eric Miller’s team.

Old Belvedere, the champions, have a tough assignment in Tom Clifford Park against Young Munster. Although Alan Kingsley has moved on to Australia, the home side will be boosted by the return of player-coach Mike Prendergast.

Since winning the competition in such exciting fashion against Cork Con, Old Belvedere have lost their formidable Leo A’Auva to Leinster, while flanker Jason Risdon has returned to New Zealand.

Bruff begin their Division 1B campaign away to Buccaneers, who beat them twice last season. But that will likely spur the Munster club and they will see this match at Dubarry Park as a huge target to start off their campaign. University College Cork take on Ballymena at the Mardyke and it looks a difficult ask for the home team.

Dungannon and UCD haven’t met for a while, but their clash should be a good test of what might lie ahead later in the season. UCD played a lot of good rugby and scored a huge amount of tries in division two last season; they will face tougher tests in the week ahead, starting in Ulster today.