Confirmation, were it needed, that the provincial cups have died a slow death as the traditional curtain call to the season, was provided by this Munster Cup quarter-final at Temple Hill on Saturday. If these two cannot get the juices flowing, no contest can.
In fairness, both teams gave it a good lash, but they were under-strength and over-played, and it showed. Scarcely a few hundred people bothered to make the trip on a pleasant afternoon to see the newly-crowned AIL champions take another step toward emulating Shannon as the only side to complete what was once a coveted double.
By the time the final is played in a fortnight's time, Ireland will already be in Australia. The Cup runneth too late. Shannon cursed their injury list, cursed their luck, and cursed the referee, but by teatime they were probably glad their long season was finally over. Not even an Australian tourist among them.
Constitution will roll on to a home semi-final with Midleton and the prospect of a final a week later. As their co-coach Michael Bradley pointed out, they have to win both games to ensure that the club maintains their record of having won a Munster Cup every decade, so they will have motivation. However as Bradley also conceded, they'll be running on empty. "It's the wrong time of the year to be playing these games," was his first comment afterwards. "The players are just too tired."
The competition has been discredited in any case by the expulsion of Garryowen last year and Bruff on Friday because of some obscure bye-law. Just as bad was the failure to utilise the five-week break between the 10th and 11th rounds of the AIL.
"In fairness to both teams they kept going until the end but the quality of rugby was poor," admitted Bradley. "There were a lot of penalties and there was no flow to the game. I'd say the only person who enjoyed that game was the referee."
As an astute player turned coach, who captained his country and was capped 40 times, Bradley's rare critiques are surely worth taking on board. "We have to get some flexibility from the referees, especially in the lineouts, to get quick ball."
Bradley surmised that the onus was on Owen Doyle and the referees he leads to come together and devise an approach which permits a quicker game that is more relevant to international rugby.
Bradley pointed out that the only game involving Cork Constitution this season which was played at pace was refereed by England's Ed Morrison, and stressed that Saturday's referee, Leo Mayne, was merely interpreting the rules as all Irish referees do. Constitution had begun brightly enough, Ronan O'Gara giving some glimpses of his classy running game and landing two penalties either side of an opportunist try. Conor Mahony latched on to an Alan McGrath knock-on by making ground up the touchline before offloading with an overhead pass in the tackle for the supporting Cian Mahony to score.
Less than flattered by an 11-0 interval deficit, Shannon's makeshift pack took on the Constitution eight with gusto, nibbled into the leeway with penalties from Conor Burke but were kept at bay by O'Gara's long-range strike before Burke failed with a long-range drop goal six minutes into injury time.
Shannon's beef with Mayne was specifically the failure to award a try when Alan Quinlan clearly grounded the ball over the line when the try would have levelled the scores at 11-11. Quinlan, captain for the day, interspersed his pride in his young charges with moans about the legitimacy of his potentially crucial score. "It was at least that much over the line," conceded Constitution's smiling and sweaty James Kiernan extending his hands about a yard apart.
"Good try," Bradley good-naturedly conceded, slapping Quinlan on the back. It was that kind of day.
Scoring sequence: 5 mins: O'Gara pen, 30; 11: Cian Mahony try, 8-0; 33: O'Gara pen, 110; 43: Burke pen, 11-3; 49: Burke pen, 11-6; 63: Burke pen, 11-9; 73: O'Gara pen, 14-9; 77: Burke pen, 14-12.
Cork Constitution: D O'Brien; A Horgan, Conor Mahony, Cian Mahony, J Kiernan; R O'Gara, C Murphy; P Soden (capt), J Fogarty, J O'Driscoll, D Sheahan, D O'Callaghan, I Doyle, J Murray, J Canning. Replacements: C Kehelly for Murray (48 mins); K Murphy for Sheahan (64 mins); I Murray for O'Driscoll (64 mins); J Ellis for Soden (78 mins).
Shannon: Jason Hayes; B O'Shea; A McGrath, M Lawlor, B Roche; C Burke, S Johnson; M Horan, J Deegan, John Hayes, D Kirby, K Keane, R Collins, D Quinlan, A Quinlan (capt). Replacements: J Hadnett for Collins (56 mins), N Healy for Hadnett (71 mins).
Referee: L Mayne (Munster).
The semi-final draw is: Garryowen v Dolphin, Cork Constitution v Midleton.
