Shannon edge out Con to win title

Cork Con 16 Shannon 22

Cork Con's hoodoo of losing League finals despite topping the table at the season's end continued at Lansdowne Road as 17 points from Tom Cregan and a late try from Munster back row Stephen Keogh saw Shannon claim their sixth title in a 22-16 victory.

Con mounted a serious comeback in the second half having been 12-7 down at the break, as substitute Brian O’Meara showed all his prowess as first-choice Leinster scrum-half, kicking three penalties to edge Brian Walsh’s side into a 16-15 lead on 61 minutes.

But fate had it that Keogh, whose last appearance at the Dublin 4 venue came in Munster’s agonising Heineken Cup semi-final loss to Wasps, clambered over in the right corner for the crucial converted score with five minutes remaining.

Con have now lost five AIL finals including a 46-12 loss to Dungannon in 2001, and a four-point loss to Shannon two years ago.

They were down 6-0 this afternoon inside the first 10 minutes. Nifty Shannon wing Tom Cregan clipped over two early penalties from 30 and 25 metres to hand the Limerick side their lead.

Cork breached the Shannon line however for the opening try in the 20th minute.

Their French centre Jean Vincent Igarza broke inside the Shannon cover to garner a scrum 10 metres from the try line.

From the resulting set piece, scrum half Tomas O’Leary offloaded for left wing Cronan Healy to slip Trevor Hogan’s tackle for the touch down.

Conrad O’Sullivan converted for a 7-6 Con lead, but an advantage that was short lived, as despite Fiach O’Loughlin’s head high pass,

Cregan hit a sure-fire drop goal six minutes later to edge back in front.

From a rapid Mossie Lawlor left wing break, Cregan fired over his third penalty from four attempts four minutes before the break to stretch the Shannon lead, with O’Meara being brought on in injury time for the ineffective O’Sullivan.

Referee Alan Lewis was forced off at the break through injury and that coincided with a lapse in Shannon concentration for the next quarte.

Despite full back John Lacey being on hand to clear danger on three occasions, Geoff Moylan’s side coughed up a penalty to O’Meara with O’Loughlin infringing at a ruck, with the kick pushing Con within two points.

A Trevor Hogan lineout steal on 53 minutes saw Cregan reopen the five-point gap with his fourth penalty of a 17-point haul, but O’Meara’s influence on the game increased as his stunning accuracy from 46 and 30 metres, the first from just inside the left touch line, saw Con into the lead for only the second time.

With 13 minutes remaining, O’Meara missed a straight-on chance to push home Con’s increasing advantage but failed to the left.

That was to unfortunately prove the undoing for Con, who were to suffer only their second defeat of the season.

A massive five-phase shunt up field from the Shannon pack saw Eddie Halvey and then prop Frankie Roche make dives for the Con try line in the 75th minute but Keogh eventually had the muscle to barge over.

Cregan’s conversion just had enough legs to hang over the crossbar and with out-half Andrew Thompson, winning a record sixth AIL medal, controlling the final minutes with his right boot, Shannon added a sweet win to their 2004 Munster Senior League and Cup double.

Scorers: Cork Con: Try: C Healy; Con: C O’Sullivan; Pens: B O’Meara 3

Shannon: Try: S Keogh; Con: T Cregan; Pen: T Cregan 4; Drop gl: T Cregan

CORK CON: A Horgan; D Dillon, R O’Donovan, JV Igarza, C Healy; C O’Sullivan, T O’Leary; G Murray, D Murray, M Ross, K Coughlan, S O’Connor, D Pusey, J Murray (Capt), B O’Connor.

Subs used: B O’Meara for O’Sullivan (41 mins), D Fogarty and C O’Keeffe for D Murray and Coughlan (both 61 mins)

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.

Subs used: S Keogh for O’Connor (50 mins), T Buckley for McNamara (66 mins), I Dowling for Lawlor (79 mins)

Referee: Alan Lewis (ARLB)

HT: Cork Con 7 Shannon 12