Nothing concentrates the mind quite like fear of failure. Cast adrift and facing the prime pretenders to their crown, St Mary's unveiled their full armoury and for the first time this season truly swung from the hip.
The net result was Cork Constitution's first defeat at Temple Hill since Garryowen won here in February 1998, thereby ending Con's run of 17 successive AIL home wins. Rumours of the holders' demise would seem premature.
Facing the scant consolation of a mere bonus point after seeing a 24-8 lead frittered and whistled away, Peter McKenna's 80thminute try instead yielded the maximum haul of five points. A fourth try was fair reward for their approach toward this near do-ordie mission and suddenly they are within four points of fourth-place Shannon, who they entertain next Saturday.
With Denis Hickie the catalyst for much of the visitors' exuberant running in broken play, Eddie Hekenui gave a reminder that he knows how to run and move the ball about, and so a rich supply of ball came the way of the slightly out-of-touch John McWeeney as St Mary's possibly created as many try-scoring opportunities as they had all season. Con had the stronger scrum, St Mary's edged the lineouts but both packs supplied good quality ball for back divisions keen on exploring the width of the pitch. There couldn't have been a better advert for the league, a point both coaches agreed on.
"It could have gone either way and I accept that, but from the point of view of the league, it's not dead," said St Mary's coach Brent Pope. "Malcolm (O'Kelly) and the other internationals are jumping for joy at the win. Both teams played some super rugby, end-to-end stuff, and for people to come along to games like that means the league is still very much alive."
In truth, it was Con who set the tempo and if the injured Anthony Horgan had been there to support a searing Brian Walsh break then the Cork club would probably have supplemented a fifth try of the campaign from flanker Craig Taylor.
"We left a couple of scores behind us," reckoned a palpably disappointed Brian Hickey. "However we were on the back foot after that and conceded two very, very soft tries at this level. We were better organised defensively than last week but we didn't make our tackles. All credit to them, when they upped the pace they looked dangerous."
So much hinged on morning fitness tests, and whereas McKenna and Hekenui were surprisingly passed fit, not long into the game Con lost their orchestrator Ronan O'Gara. Trevor Brennan, moved to second row, had stated the visitors' intentions with a couple of rib-ticklers on the classy outhalf and his departure with a bruised hip seemed to disrupt the Con back line.
Mark McHugh, who seems to have a new belief and hunger to his game, landed an overdue penalty and St Mary's were free. Brennan went rumbling and from the recycle Hickie transfixed the defence when shaping to drop at goal, then weaved through the Con forwards before a compelling passage of continuity play culminated in a solo try from 30 metres out by Hekenui.
When Alan Conboy supported McWeeney for a turnover seven-pointer Con looked goosed at 24-8 10 minutes after the interval. Con regrouped with Taylor and Kelly making the incisions for Walsh to score. Brennan was sin-binned for a high hit on Taylor, and as St Mary's panicked, O'Meara landed three penalties before Conor Mahony's long-range drop goal edged them back in front.
Possibly it was too much too soon, and as champions, St Mary's have a bit more belief than of yore. McHugh missing an equalising penalty may have been no bad thing either, and with Con's kicking game disintegrating for Hickie and McKenna to counter-attack at will, the latter capped a fine last 10 minutes to explode onto Hekenui's short, flat pass for a morale-building match-winner.
"The guys enjoyed themselves and that's what rugby is all about. It puts us back in the hunt," said Pope.
Scoring sequence: 4 mins: O'Gara pen 3-0; 13 mins: Taylor try 8-0; 33 mins: McHugh pen 8-3; 36 mins: Hickie try, McHugh con 8-10; 40 mins: Hekenui try, McHugh con 8-17; 49 mins: Conboy try, McHugh con 8-24; 54 mins: Walsh try, O'Meara con 15-24; 62 mins: O'Meara pen 18-24; 65 mins: O'Meara pen 21-24; 67 mins: O'Meara pen 24-24; 69 mins: Conor Mahony drop goal 2724; 80 mins: McKenna try 27-29.
Cork Constitution: B Walsh; J Kelly, Conor Mahony, R O'Donovan, D Dillon; R O'Gara, B O'Meara; R McGrath, F Sheahan, J O'Driscoll, D O'Callaghan, M O'Driscoll, C Taylor, U O'Callaghan, J Murray. Replacements: T Kiernan for O'Gara (29 mins), Cian Mahony for O'Donovan (54 mins). ST Mary's College: P McKenna; D Hickie, A Conboy, M McHugh, J McWeeney; E Hekenui, E McCormack; P Tucker, P Smyth, D Clare, T Brennan, M O'Kelly, F Fitzgerald, V Costello, S Jennings. Replacements: D Griffin for Fitzgerald (76 mins). Sin-binned: T Brennan 58-68 mins.
Referee: Donal Courtney (IRFU).
