Shannon have lost the hunger

The end of an era? While St Mary's season continues onward and upward, Shannon's plumbed new depths at Templeville Road on Saturday. A third successive defeat means that four successive wins may not be enough to procure even a top four playoff place. Their crown has all but fallen off.

That they lost here was no great surprise: both tradition and form pointed to it. Templeville Road has been a cursed venue for them, and this was their fourth consecutive league defeat at St Mary's. The home side extended their winning run to three games.

No, it was the manner of this latest defeat which surprised. Not alone were St Mary's without Victor Costello and Denis Hickie from the off, they then lost Kevin Nowlan inside 10 minutes and were reduced to 14 men by the dismissal of Trevor Brennan five minutes into the second half.

Twice Shannon pulled back to within two points and with ample time left on the clock. Despite having played relatively poorly until then, in times past this was the type of game Shannon would have won from there on. That they didn't can be attributed as much to the home side's greater desire as anything else.

Sure, there have been mitigating factors, such as the more numerous calls upon their players in an expanded Munster campaign earlier this season. For example, after a summer tour, Anthony Foley and Mick Galwey were playing their 24th and 23rd competitive game respectively of the season so far, and others aren't far behind.

Accordingly, there have been more demands and more injury-enforced disruptions on their personnel than is the norm. Rhys Ellison is the latest casualty, and he was badly missed in an unusually porous and toothless midfield here.

Yet most of their key players have been back in harness during their current losing run. More tellingly, it seems that after four league titles on the spin the old Shannon desire has gone.

As one regular Shannon watcher observed, when they worked their way up field while trailing by two points in the final quarter, they had to go into a lengthy huddle to agree on the ensuing line-out call. Heretofore, they would have known instinctively.

St Mary's co-coach Hugh Maguire said: "At last we have more strength in depth in our tight five than ever before." Peter Smyth and John Maher are excellent acquisitions.

Even when reduced by one, their scrum still held sway and they frequently mauled Shannon back yards off a superb line-out - Shannon failed to pilfer even one of Smyth's accurate throws.

The game's sole try came, appropriately, from such a drive. Mark Cuddihy broke away before Brennan picked up and ploughed over acrobatically for the key score.

Otherwise, Fergal Campion matched Jim Galvin and Andrew Thompson kick for kick, while out-kicking Galvin from the hand. Both sides have sacrificed more running for kicking out-halves, and with Galvin understandably rusty on his seasonal reappearance, the composure of Conor McGuinness and Fergal Campion held sway.

Shannon's big hitters, Foley the pick of them, played only in snatches.

As well as their superior driving up front and the composure of their halves, St Mary's had most of the better performers further out. Ray McIlreavy was outstanding in midfield, Peter McKenna switched seamlessly to full-back and ran prolifically, while John McWeeney too was a constant threat.

As for Brennan, again he sparked mixed emotions. The `shoeing" of Darragh Kirby which led to the first caution, with the ball already visible, was needless. So too was the high leading of the forearm which prompted rare retaliatory action from Foley and Brennan's second cautionable offence.

After last week's indiscretions, and given he was on a yellow, he should have known better. Can he consistently marry his innate aggressiveness with self-control? In mitigation, his emotions were running high after scoring his try, and he refrained from throwing a punch in the second skirmish.

It was a harsh dismissal, largely decreed by the intrusive Sean Buggy (who intervened five times), and St Mary's will represent him forcefully at the disciplinary hearing which now jeopardises his representative involvement next weekend.

Given Scott Young will again be in charge at Wembley, Brennan may well have been a marked man again next weekend in any case. The words "vicious circle" seem sadly appropriate.

Scoring sequence: 17 mins: Thompson pen 0-3; 20: Campion drop goal 3-3; 23: Galvin drop goal 3-6; 32: Campion pen 6-6; 41: Brennan try 11-6; 49: Galvin drop goal 11-9; 53: Campion pen 14-9; 58: Galvin pen 14-12; 72: Campion pen 17-12.

St Mary's College: K Nowlan; J McWeeney, P McKenna, R McIlreavy, P Lane; F Campion, C McGuinness (capt); J Maher, P Smyth, P Coyle, S Jameson, I Bloomer, T Brennan, K Jennings, M Cuddihy. Replacements: E Gibney for Nowlan (10 mins), D Bourke for Bloomer (65 mins), F McNamara for Johnson (67 mins).

Shannon: Jason Hayes; J Lacey, A McGrath, C Burke, A Thompson; J Galvin, S Johnson; M Horan, M McDermott, John Hayes, M Galwey, D Kirby, A Quinlan, A Foley (capt), E Halvey. Replacements: B Roche for Lacey (half-time), C McMahon for Kirby (55 mins), E Byrne for Coyle (79 mins).

Referee: S Young (Australia).