Terenure turn Shannon tide

Terenure college brought off the shock result of the league to date when they outplayed the champions in Tipperary on Saturday. They were full value for their remarkable 19-point win. Everything seemed to be against Terenure before the game: their form has been poor so far this season and brilliant back row forward, Eric Miller, was a late defection because of a knee injury. And after only two minutes of the game John Lacey had crossed for a try for Shannon.

"The early try may well have worked against them," said the Terenure scrum-half and man-of-the-match, Niall Hogan, and when Terenure knuckled down to their task Shannon seemed to have no answer. Craig Fitzpatrick landed a penalty on 11 minutes then Girvan Dempsey crossed for a try.

Before half-time Billy Treacy dropped a 40-metre goal and Fitzpatrick put over a hat-trick of penalties to make it 20 points to five.

Shannon had the wind at their backs in the second half but Terenure now held them in a vicelike grip. Rory Sherrif continued to dominate the line-outs and the New Zealand number eight, Gavin Hill, was a huge influence. Little was seen of the Shannon's usually hugely influential Alan Quinlan and Mick Galwey.

Shannon did narrow the gap with a penalty by Andrew Thompson in the 51st minute, but the issue was effectively decided on the hour when Hogan nipped around the side of a ruck, threw a dummy and then scampered through a big gap for a try which Fitzpatrick converted. To add to Shannon's woes they lost a number of players through injury, most notably their New Zealand centre, Rhys Ellison.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: J Lacey try, 0-5; 11 mins: C Fitzpatrick pen, 3-5; 17 mins: G Dempsey try, 8-5; 22 mins: W Treacy dr gl, 115; 25 mins: Fitzpatrick pen, 14-5; 35 mins: Fitzpatrick pen, 17-5; 39 mins: Fitzpatrick pen, 20-5; 51 mins: A Thomson pen, 20-8; 59 mins: N Hogan try, Fizpatrick con 27-8.

Terenure: C Clarke; D Coleman, W Treacy, M Smyth, G Dempsey; C Fitzpatrick, N Hogan; S Barretto, J Blaney, J Campbell, R Sherrif, C Potts, D Blaney, P O'Malley, G Hill. Replacement: B Kavanagh for O'Malley (76 mins).

Shannon: B Roche; J Lacey, P McMahon, R Ellison, A Thompson; C Burke, S Johnson; M Horan, M McDermott, J Hayes, M Galwey, D Kirby, A Quinlan, E Halvey, A Foley. Replacements: C McMahon for Kirby (45 mins); F McNamara for Johnson (51 mins); N Healy for Hayes (51 mins); A McGrath for Ellison (80 mins); Jason Hayes for McMahon (84 mins).

Referee: B Smith (Munster).