Blackrock's `babes' tame Shannon

The end of an era, and so a few tears in the eye, but what an era. A rare group of underage players signed off a remarkable decade courtesy of what Blackrock folk will call the double treble by convincingly putting Shannon to the sword in yesterday's All-Ireland under-20 final in Naas. No better way to end it.

Afterwards, there were many poignant reminders of the under-10 Blackrock side that were brought together for a mini-rugby game prior to the Dublin Millennium match 10 years ago. Remarkably, six of those Blackrock babes were in yesterday's squad, and that despite the absence of the injured Tom Keating.

The vast majority of this squad have played together for the intervening 10 years, winning a Leinster Junior Cup and two Leinster Senior Cups prior to back-to-back trebles in the McCorry Cup, Leinster under-20 league and All-Ireland under-20 play-offs. This was the fitting denouement, for they have something of what Shannon's celebrated seniors have.

Their Sean Fitzpatrick-like leader from the front, Peter Smyth, also paid a poignant farewell to the departing director of rugby, Peter Smeeth, who will shortly take up a three-year contract with Trinity. As they trailed 6-3 to a predictably fired-up Shannon side at half-time, Smeeth asked them the most pertinent question of the day: "Is this how you want to end it, losing to Shannon?"

"Shannon are the best club in the country but we want to be a new breed of Leinster players, not just Blackrock players," Smyth later revealed.

Psychologically, they took another important step on that route even if they didn't play with the fluidity and 15-man running game that is their hallmark. To a considerable degree, they weren't let. Shannon met fire with fire in some ferocious head-on rugby during a tight, injury-disrupted first period.

You could sense the importance of it all even by the vocal encouragement in a small crowd, these finals being the IRFU's worst-promoted event of the season. Playing with the benefit of a capricious, cross-field wind, Shannon gradually imposed themselves in a compelling first period. Number eight Redmond Collins snaffled a load of overthrown line-out balls and restarts, while Tony Flynn also made good yardage as Shane Hickey and Brian Frawley stopped the big Blackrock runners, Leo Cullen and gargantuan tight-head Mark Fearon. They were full value for the couple of penalties Tom Cregan landed in response to one by Daragh Kavanagh.

Their nimble full back, Brian Hogan made a deft outside break and was stopped inches short by a suspiciously high tackle. Where they erred was in wasting ball which had been hard-won by the pack, in taking on the physically-imposing and fearless Dave Quinlan through the middle, and by kicking too much ball, though their impressive halves, Cormac O'Loughlin and Cregan, kept a good hold on the game.

But the pressure exerted by the Blackrock scrum, and especially by Mark Fearon on Marcus Horan, began to tell after the resumption. Blackrock brought on Barry Gibney - supposedly hampered by a groin strain, though you'd hardly have guessed it - to re-unite the one-time Irish schools back row and his teammates were palpably lifted by his charges, his tackling, his football ability and his sheer presence. Suddenly Blackrock began to turn the screw through the scrum and a change of tack in opting to pick and go rather than pop balls to target runners whom the Shannon hit men had been queueing up for.

Shannon were forced continually on to the back foot as Cullen, Smyth, Gibney and co began to rumble, Smyth feeding Gibney for a legspumping charge through a forest of Shannon shirts which led to fellow flanker Richard Woods picking up and burrowing over after Cullen had been held up short.

Cullen set up more attacking ball for Smyth, who has the hands of a centre, to take two men and so let Quinlan put replacement Alan Hegarty away for the killer try. The ever-dominant scrum was then the platform for an inevitable closerange try by Cullen.

The crowd quietened for what was almost an anti-climactic ending, and without their customary playmaker Niall O'Donovan, Blackrock never cut loose like they would have wanted. But the best was still saved for last when Cullen fed Gibney from another scrum and the flanker caressed the most delicate of blind side grubbers on a proverbial sixpence for Daragh Kavanagh to pounce.