Shannon's secret - never give in

They're that rarity in Irish rugby in the 1990s, a bona fide success story. Winners through and through. Yet there's something about Shannon you can't put your finger on. What's the secret? The more you ask it, the more you seem to go round in circles.

Being as cute as they are, they give little away either. But if Shannon's pre-eminence on the Irish club game these past four years can be encapsulated in three words then Mick Galwey probably provided them. "We don't panic."

Instead they leave that to the opposition. So many times, opposing teams think they have them. This season has been typical. Of Shannon's 13 league wins out of 14 games, including last week's semi-final, seven have been by a score, that is, seven points or less.

In January, the Ballymena juggernaut looked set to roll Shannon over in Thomond Park. They turned around ahead and with the wind behind them, but the Shannon pack upped the tempo, kept their discipline, cut down on their mistakes and hung in there.

Two minutes from time Shannon trailed by a point but had a line-out on the Ballymena 22. You didn't have to be a Bob Dwyer or a psychic to note: "Two minutes to go; just enough time for them to win it." Sure enough: line-out, Anthony Foley up the middle, ball recycled left and Billy O'Shea cuts inside James Topping to win it. It wasn't even surprising.

Colm McMahon came off the bench next time out against Garryowen and turned the game around on the hour when completing a Foley-Eddie Halvey-Alan Quinlan close-support drive to score a stunning match-winner. Against Terenure, even in a supposedly nothing match, it was a last-minute drop goal by Jim Galvin. Winning breeds confidence breeds winning, and they've a corps of hardened leaders, so much so that Foley admits captaincy couldn't be easier.

"They have the ability to always score when they need to, from the likes of Jim Galvin to Mick Galwey or their back row," says Garryowen coach Philip Danaher. "They have the structure off the field with the likes of Brian O'Brien and Niall O'Donovan - all guys passing on information like a conveyor belt."

Insiders reveal that Shannon occasionally spend an entire session working on their defensive system and their discipline in not conceding penalties inside their own half. "We pride ourselves on regularly having the best defensive record," admits O'Donovan. "Even against Old Crescent, as satisfying as the 50 points scored was the nil part. Crescent threw everything at us in the final 10 minutes, but the guys kept working hard."

So it is that Pat Murray moved from the pitch to the think-tank this season with barely a hint of disruption to the machine. Niall O'Donovan kick-started the process five years ago, though modesty forbids him taking any credit whatsoever.

"We nearly got relegated in our first year. But I knew we'd be alright, because we'd brought in some new young guys and had a good mix. The first year we won 10 out of 10 but nobody noticed us until we'd won our first six. The next year was harder, last year was harder still, and this season was the hardest yet."

They've consistently varnished things and refreshed the squad with new personnel here and there. "The team has changed a lot since then. I was looking at the team-sheet for the Munster Under-20 Cup win four years ago, and Alan Quinlan, Anthony Foley, Andrew Thompson, Alan McGrath, John Hayes and Donal Costello were all on it. They're now the backbone."

Only Galwey, Foley, Thompson and Galvin have played in every game over the last four years. This year, they've been luckier than most with injuries, nine players appearing in every match. But Murray has been true to his word when vowing that they would operate off a squad system, after he'd proved reputations counted for little when substituting an ill-disciplined Quinlan just 33 minutes into the Clontarf game.

Twenty-two players have appeared five times or more. They've cover in every position thanks also to the versatility of players like John Hayes, who has packed down everywhere in the tight five except hooker; Halvey, who has switched to the second row six times during games; Rhys Ellison, their awesome Kiwi recruit at centre who can also fill in at out-half, and Billy O'Shea, who can cover the back three positions.

Ask O'Donovan for the secret to their success and he roars laughing at his own sense of irony. "No one playing for Ireland. They don't want to break us up."

In fact, this perceived prejudice against their players by the Irish selectors is very significant. "The guys still have to prove themselves, week-in and week-out. It's their only way to keep their name in lights."

Today, with a changed Irish management team, there is the carrot of a possible squad selection for the summer tour of South Africa. The lack of international recognition angers O'Donovan. "Anthony Foley has been one guy who, since the start of the year, has been consistently outstanding. Sure, he may not be the quickest number eight in the world, but you can always pick out a fault in a player. But for his overall ability, and his reading and knowledge of the game, I hope he goes to South Africa."

This season, only Halvey started an international and was scapegoated after the All Blacks defeat. Suggest to O'Donovan that Halvey might have looked a little out of his depth that day, and he retorts: "So did the other 14, but he got the blame."

Granted, even O'Donovan struggles to nominate other candidates beyond the back row and second row Galwey - which in itself is a compliment to the team, the whole adding up to more than the sum of the parts. Shannon don't have a particularly fearsome tight five, they generally do no more (but rarely less) than hold their own in the scrum, they manufacture their line-out well and pilfer balls off the opposition throw by moving Halvey up and down the line.

They can be beaten, and just rarely, like when losing to Lansdowne by 18-14 in January, they panic themselves. Kick it in behind their back three went the Lansdowne mantra that week, and the subsequent 80 minutes underlined the impression that their back three don't counter-attack and their pack don't like being turned.

The theory is one thing, the practice another. St Mary's thought they had them as well last week. But just like Ballymena, they forgot the game plan in the heat of the second half, didn't use the wind to turn Shannon around and make them retreat. They did the panicking.

Brent Pope compares Shannon to Auckland: "They treat every game the same." Shannon respect the opposition, and rarely shout from the rooftops. "When's this going in?" inquired O'Donovan. Saturday. "Oh no. Don't build us up too much. You can write anything you want next week if we win." Never goad the opposition.

They will have trained on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; same as they ever did. They will have stayed in the Mespil Hotel for one night, as they always do when coming to Dublin. Treat every game the same. Take nothing for granted. Maybe they're not that complex after all.