Before Christmas Con visited Thomond Park in the AIB Cup and mugged the home team with a penalty try deep into injury time. Naturally, they were excited; you could even say delighted. In fact, they couldn’t contain themselves. They formed a circle in the middle of the field and began their celebrations immediately.
Shannon were obviously hurting and the sight of their conqerors doing a metaphorical jig in the middle of their home field didn’t help their humour. That feeling was stored for fuel and yesterday it filled their tanks.
Ultimately, Shannon were far more emphatic winners than the scoreline suggests. Con rescued a bonus point with a try and a penalty but both of those scores arrived in injury time, and that was a little yarn in itself. In his haste to re-start the game, after Tom Gleeson touched down near the posts, the Con out-half Darragh Lyons drop kicked the conversion quickly and put it wide from less than 10 metres out.
Mercifully for him there was time for Con to force one last penalty in front of the posts from which Lyons happily redeemed himself. By then, though, all of the big issues had been decided.
Essentially, the game swung on a crucial ten minute spell at the end of the third quarter. Shannon were leading 9-3, but they hadn’t maximised the wind in the first half and there was a sense that Con were taking control.
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Shane Cotterell nearly got over and Cronin Healy made a valiant bid in repeated assaults on the Shannon line. In the end they were awarded a penalty and the opportunity for a simple three points. They declined and elected for a scrum five metres out.
One scrum led to another, Cotterell nearly got over again, and Shannon were hanging on for dear life. On their third scrum, though, Con lost control of the ball and Shannon lifted the siege.
They took the play to the other end of the field and minutes later they nailed Con. From a penalty inside the Con 22 they kicked for touch in the corner, won the lineout and drove it. Con held them up but they couldn’t keep them out and substitute Frankie Roche touched down. Into the wind David Delaney landed a beautiful conversion and Shannon were 16-3 in front with just 15 minutes left.
Con let loose in the closing minutes and played their best rugby of the match, but it was too late. They were gifted the presence of Anthony Horgan, after the Munster winger couldn’t even get onto the bench in Castres on Friday night, but they struggled to get him into the game. They conceded half a dozen turnovers in the lineout and from such a base they got what was coming to them.
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STAR MAN: S Cronin (Shannon)
Shannon: M Lawlor, F McLoughlin, B Tuohy, E Cahill, D O’Donovan, D Delaney, F McNamara, L Hogan, S Cronin (TJ Hickey 80 mins), G McNamara (F Roche 47 mins), T Hogan, P O’Brien (S Keogh 54 mins), D Ryan, J O’Connor (A Meany 79 mins), E Halvey
Scorers: Try: F Roche Pens: D Delaney 2 Con: D Delaney Drop Goal: M Lawlor
Cork Con: C O’Sullivan, A Horgan, T Gleeson, A O’Brien (R Lane 77 mins), C Healy, D Lyons, F Murphy, T Ryan, D Murray (Landy Hill 80 mins), M Ross, S Cotterell (J Maloney 80 mins), S O’Connor, M O’Connell, B Cutriss, F Cogan
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Scorers: Try: Gleeson Pens: D Lyons 2
Yellow Cards: S O’Connor (Con) 37mins; D Ryan (Shannon) 42 mins
Referee: A McKay (Ulster Branch)