Depth of Shannon proves the difference

Shannon 22 Cork Constitution 16: Four finals this season, four finals won. Three AIB League finals at Lansdowne Road, and this third one, like the previous two, was won by a score to earn Shannon a remarkable sixth All-Ireland title. What do they have for breakfast on match-day mornings? A big fry-up for many of them, it transpired, so bang goes that theory.

But of course, they had prepared meticulously. Unlike Con (who flew to Dublin on the morning of the match), Shannon drove up the day before, had a run-out at Lansdowne Road, and stayed overnight in Finnstown House, even driving up the half dozen who were involved in Munster's win over Connacht on Friday night.

It goes deeper than that, needless to say. Clutching the Shannon crest on his tracksuit top, their coach Geoff Moylan commented afterwards: "I told them that whatever flows through this crest is special, they just don't seem to lose any finals. And I know it will come some day, but whatever belief is built into them - and it is built into them - I'm only reinforcing it."

"It's instilled in them. They grew up with it. They inherited it and it just comes to the fore every time the pressure comes on. They just never, ever, ever give up. They never panic. We just kept plugging away until the end," said Moylan, who has guided Shannon to two titles in three years but was wondering aloud if he'd continue.

"There was 33 gone on the clock (in the second half, with Shannon losing 16-15) and we just said to them, 'keep building phases, be patient, be patient, when you get up there. I don't know how many phases, but a score will always come when you start going into double figures'."

Indeed, this latest AIL success was uncannily like the final of two years ago, when Shannon, in classic minimalist mode, made a rare second-half sortie into the breeze count with a Niall McNamara drop-goal to give them the buffer of a decisive 21-17 lead.

Somewhat similarly, Con had dominated the second half territorially on Saturday thanks in large part to the surprise introduction of Brian O'Meara just before the interval, his three penalties turning a 12-7 interval deficit into a 16-15 lead.

When Eddie Halvey rashly came round the side of a ruck and then compounded his sin by conceding an extra 10 for dissent before even pushing his captain, Tom Hayes, it seemed Shannon were - for the first time in living memory - about to lose their famous cool.

However, O'Meara missed perhaps his easiest kick of four and somehow you sensed that Shannon might have been let off the hook. Sure enough, they responded to Moylan's call for a patient, multi-phase attack, which culminated in Stephen Keogh - another impact arrival by a contracted player - crashing over for the 75th-minute match-winning score.

Their willingness to dig deep for each other was epitomised by hooker Jerry Flannery, who played virtually a full match for Munster the night before, and further enhanced his reputation with a pugnacious, ball-carrying, hard-tackling man-of-the-match performance. The 25-year-old was so bunched afterwards he had to conduct an interview sitting down.

"I'll sleep well tonight," he admitted. "There's a good blend in the team. Guys like Johnny Lacey, Andrew Thompson, Eddie Halvey have done everything. We all have confidence in each other and we knew it would come eventually if we just kept working."

Shannon aren't invincible, as Con proved when giving them a good beating in Temple Hill a month ago, but that was perhaps their biggest mistake, as Shannon are liable to make you regret it. They turned the tables this time around, especially in the lineout.

Brian Walsh, at the end of a highly impressive rookie season as the Con coach, admitted a losing team will invariably learn more from the experience and the video, as had been the case when they beat Buccs a week before in the semi-final.

However, you had to feel sympathy for a team some of whom were experiencing a third final defeat in four years - in each case after topping the table.

"We've no complaints, we gave it our best shot. No ifs, no regrets. We've come a long way this season," he said, refusing to highlight the loss of three of his semi-final team or Munster disruptions as an excuse. "I give Shannon huge credit. They know the way they want to win."

Born to win? To an extent, yes, for Shannon are certainly inculcated with a winning mentality from an early age. Indeed six of this side came through their underage ranks.

Mossie Lawlor's confident and lively ball-carrying suggested he's actually playing better than in his more high-profile campaign of last season, and he is one who can recall underage successes in the black and blue hoops. "We were the first Shannon team to win an under-11 blitz, the James Keating Memorial Trophy in Bruff, and we won an under-13 cup and an under-14 cup."

About 300 of the future generations of Shannon players were bussed up on Saturday and most of them would have been playing in a blitz held in honour of Alan Oakley, a club benefactor and stalwart, in Annacotty yesterday. Tellingly too, sore heads or not, all of these AIL League winners continued their celebrations by attending that blitz, and it wasn't a case of Moylan asking them to, rather a case of them checking with him what time it was at.

You can't buy that. It's why Shannon are simply the best rugby club in Ireland.

SCORING SEQUENCE - 2 mins: Cregan pen 3-0; 7: Cregan pen 6-0; 20: Healy try, O'Sullivan con 6-7; 24: Cregan drop goal 9-7; 39: Cregan pen 12-7 (half-time 12-7); 52: O'Meara pen 12-10; 55: Cregan pen 15-10; 60: O'Meara pen 15-13; 63: O'Meara pen 15-16; 75: Keogh try, Cregan con 16-22.

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, E Halvey, J O'Connor. Replacements: S Keogh for O'Connor (50 mins), T Buckley for McNamara (65 ), I Dowling for Lawlor (79 ).

CORK CONSTITUTION: A Horgan; D Dillon, R O'Donovan, J-V Igarza, C Healy; C O'Sullivan, T O'Leary; G Murray, D Murray, M Ross, S O'Connor, K Coughlan, D Pusey, B O'Connor, J Murray. Replacements: B O'Meara for O'Sullivan (40 mins), C O'Keeffe for Coughlan, D Fogarty for D Murray (both 60), P Twomey for B O'Connor (83).

Referee: A Lewis (IRFU) Replacement: D Courtney (half-time).