Hickey secures title for Garryowen

All-Ireland League Division One final/ Garryowen 16 Cork Constitution 15: Suddenly an epic was unfolding before our eyes. It took most of the 80 minutes but when the AIB All-Ireland League final eventually caught fire, man, the 3,087 crowd were treated to the mother of all endgames.

It came down to hunger. Cork Constitution were ravenous. Garryowen devoured them.

This report must start with a recollection of the white-knuckle ride down the home stretch. Everyone's nerve was tested to the limit; including this year's European Cup final referee, Alan Lewis. Everyone passed the test. Cork Con can be proud of their brave, late assault.

It's just Garryowen's defensive honest, ultimately, held firm.

The 71st minute: Ed Leamy - yes, he is a miniature version of big brother Denis - burst into the Garryowen 22. It laid the platform for Cork Con to unleash their most devastating runner, Denis Hurley. A skip pass by outhalf Daragh Lyons was taken by Tom Gleeson, who repeated the trick to present Hurley with ball at pace. Garryowen winger Ciarán O'Boyle fell off the tackle. 15-9 and the game had just exploded to life.

Tellingly, Richard Lane missed the conversion.

As an aside, it should be noted that Hurley and Gleeson look capable of making an impact in the professional game.

Hurley has a fluid, powerful running style; although solid in the bread-and-butter fullback duties, he may need to develop his kicking game. He is an untapped resource. His namesake, the Garryowen scrumhalf Gerry Hurley, is another player brimming with potential.

But back to the bloodbath (for corroborating evidence see the head wound the official man of the match, Peter Malone, sported afterwards).

Garryowen immediately engineered an attacking lineout and two gut-busting rolling mauls eventually yielded a try for hooker Damien Varley. 15-14. Eoghan Hickey's conversion was true. It was his last act before departing for London Irish. 15-16.

"Sometimes nothing needs to be said," said winning captain Paul Neville. "Someone just needs to act."

Con coach Brian Walsh sent on a prop and a hooker, followed soon after by Conor Quaid. Within a minute the lightweight outhalf, playing centre, split open the Garryowen midfield to bring matters into the killing zone.

Two scrums. Captain Frank Cogan picked and drove for the line on each occasion. Twice he was halted by the Garryowen mongrels.

Twice scrumhalf Peter McKee supplied halfback partner Darragh Lyons with difficult drop-goal opportunities. Twice they fell short. The first bounced awkwardly just inches from the Garryowen line.

Of all people, tighthead John Staunton, brother of Jeremy, was on hand to clean up. After the second miss, four minutes into injury-time, Lewis blew up.

As the dust began to settle - with the jubilant Garryowen folk heading to the Sundays Well clubhouse while the Cork people sifted through the wreckage outside Dolphin RFC - Walsh felt his team were dealt a harsh hand late on.

"We should have got a penalty leading up to the second (drop goal). They came in from the side, twice, blatantly. Once, (Paul) Neville grabbed (Peter) McKee, who couldn't pass the ball, so he was interfering with play. He stayed there. Lewis came in and told him to get out of there; you're in from the side. If he does that there is an infringement. It should have been a penalty.

"And that's hugely frustrating that a game of such quality, played in such good spirits, with not a huge amount of penalties in it, to a certain extent the result can be dictated by a poor decision."

This is a recurring theme. Should the referee apply common sense or the letter of the law? The grievance pendulum would have swung the other way if Lewis had awarded a late penalty beside the posts. It would have been equally harsh.

It ensured Garryowen a fourth AIL title and provided a perfect send-off to long-serving coaches Paul Cunningham and Killian Keane.

There is one more swansong as the group, minus Hickey - whose boot contributed 11 points - will represent Ireland at the Languedoc-Roussillon amateur tournament in France from September 3rd to 15th.

In contrast, Cork Con must reflect on a fourth season in which they led after the league only to stumble in the play-offs. At least Gleeson's excellent try in first-half injury-time highlighted a quality team that will undoubtedly challenge for silverware next season. But for 2007 the AIL trophy, AIB Cup, Munster Junior Cup and Munster Senior Cup all reside in Dooradoyle.

Scoring sequence - 9 mins: E Hickey pen, 3-0; 28: E Hickey pen, 6-0; 34: R Lane pen, 6-3; 41: T Gleeson try, R Lane con, 6-10 (half-time 6-10); 52: E Hickey pen, 9-10; 70: D Hurley try, 9-15; 73: D Varley try, E Hickey con, 16-15.

GARRYOWEN: C Kilroy; A O'Loughlin, K Hartigan, C Doyle, Ciarán O'Boyle; E Hickey, G Hurley; R Brosnan, D Varley, J Staunton; M Melbourne, E Mackey; P Neville (capt), A Kavanagh, P Malone. Replacements: D Sherry for P Malone (temp, 32-36 mins), Cillian O'Boyle for K Hartigan (48 mins), D Sheehan for E Mackey (64 mins).

CORK CONSTITUTION: D Hurley; R Lane, D Nethery, T Gleeson, C Healy; D Lyons, P McKee; Tom Ryan, D Murray, Tim Ryan; M O'Connell, S O'Connor; R Noonan, E Leamy, F Cogan (capt). Replacements: C Quaid for D Lyons (temp, 18-25 mins), J Moloney for S O'Connor (56 mins), R Quinn for D Murray, C Murphy for Tim Ryan (both 74 mins), C Quaid for D Nethery (79 mins).

Referee: A Lewis(ARLB).