Elite quartet a fitting tribute to mark ninth year

All-Ireland League semi-finals: Seven-time winners and champions the last two years, Shannon will still be smarting from the thumping at Dooradoyle last March.

Garryowen v Shannon

Dooradoyle (3.0) Live on RTÉ.

The motto "nobody beats Munster twice" emanates in large degree from Shannon. As they showed in beating Garryowen 16-14 here in the semi-finals of the Munster Senior Cup, en route to their seventh successive triumph in that competition, nobody rises to the demands of cup rugby better than the Thomond Park outfit.

In four previous semi-finals, they've won the lot en route to also winning the league, but all of those semi-finals were in Thomond Park. Compared to the other top four teams, Shannon's form has been a bit patchy of late.

Last night they were waiting to see how much game time Mossie Lawlor (as he was starting against the Ospreys, he looks unlikely to be made available) and Trevor Hogan were going to have with Munster before finalising their line-up. But with Hogan, Donncha Ryan and Colm McMahon, they have plenty of ball-carrying dynamism up front.

By contrast, Garryowen have looked a more settled side and come into the play-offs with only one defeat in the regulation 15-game programme. A core of young players have come through their club academy to supplement long established frontliners such as Paul Neville and Peter Malone, while they've good half-backs and real finishing ability out wide in the O'Boyle brothers, Cillian and Ciarán.

GARRYOWEN (possible): C Kilroy; Ciarán O'Boyle, K Hartigan, P Devlin, Cillian O'Boyle; C Doyle, G Hurley; R Brosnan, P Humphreys, P Laffan, E Mackey, D Sheahan, P Neville, P Malone, A Kavanagh.

SHANNON (possible): AN Other; P O'Connor, B Tuohy, J Colgan, D O'Donovan, D Delaney, F McNamara; L Hogan, TJ Hickey, G McNamara, T Hogan, P O'Brien, C McMahon, D Ryan, J O'Connor.

Referee: Olan Trevor (IRFU).

This season: Garryowen 34 Shannon 8 (March 4th). Overall head-to-heads: Played 17, Garryowen 6 wins, 1 draw, Shannon 10 wins.

Five-game formguide: Garryowen - W W W W W. Shannon - W W W L W. Leading try scorers: Garryowen - Ciarán O'Boyle 12, Paul Neville 6; Shannon - Brian Tuohy 7, David O'Donovan 5. Leading points scorers: Garryowen - Conor Kilroy 119; Shannon - David Delaney 97.

Forecast: Garryowen to win.

Clontarf v Cork Constitution

Castle Avenue (3.0)

Another cracking game in prospect between two well-organised, potent sides who play a good brand of rugby. Aside from sizeable home support, Clontarf have the additional motive of being the only one of the semi-finalists never to have won the league title before.

That said, Con have perhaps taken some of the pressure off themselves with that victory in the inaugural AIB All-Ireland Cup and as the away side will be underdogs.

Much will depend on the opening quarter or half hour or so, for if the Clontarf pack gets rumbling Con will be put on the back foot.

Although they are again missing their Leinster trio of Ben Gissing, Johnny Hepworth and Bernard Jackman, the recent loss through injury of Breffni O'Donnell has been offset by the return of Connacht's James Downey and they welcome Dave O'Brien back to the backrow.

Under the highly-regarded Brian Walsh, Con have developed more of a play-what-you-see approach, both in defence and attack, and the policy has reaped some impressive results.

Up front, they are not as traditionally powerful as Con teams of yore, though they still have a good scrum and plenty of ball-carrying power in Frank Cogan, but they are a skilful, mobile pack.

At scrumhalf, the Leicester-bound Frank Murphy has been the catalyst of much of Con's best rugby, while nobody embodies their heads-up approach than the prolific Cronan Healy, and Richard Lane sharpens that cutting edge.

CLONTARF: D O'Shea; N O'Brien, M Hewitt, J Downey, D Keane; P O'Brien, F O' Loughlin; J Wickham (capt), N Carson, R Sweeney, A Trennier, A Wood, D Quinn, D O'Brien, J Ellison.

CORK CONSTITUTION: R Lane; D O'Riordan, T Gleeson, R O'Donovan, C Healy; D Lyons, F Murphy; T Ryan, D Murray, M Ross, J Moloney, S Cottrell, M O' Connell, F Cogan, B Cutriss.

Referee: Donal Courtney (IRFU).

This season: Clontarf 23 Cork Constitution 16. (December 10th). Overall head-to-head: Played 9, Clontarf 3 wins, Cork Con 6 wins.

Five-game formguide: Clontarf - W W W W W; Cork Con - W W W W W. Leading try scorers: Clontarf - Derek Keane 13, Niall O'Brien 7; Cork Con - Cronan Healy 8, Richie Lane 7. Leading points scorers: Clontarf - Darragh O'Shea 98, Peter O'Brien 50; Cork Con - Darragh Lyons 83, Conor Quaid 67.

Forecast: Clontarf to win.

Terenure College v UCC

Lakelands Park (2.00);

Dolphin v Young Munster

Musgrave Park (2.30).

In the four years of the divisional play-offs, the Division Two champions have gone on to duplicate their success in the semi-finals and final, and Terenure take a 12-game winning sequence into today's semi-finals.

As they have also scored easily the most tries (with James Blaney leading the way with 14 from their rolling maul) and most points in this tier, while having the most parsimonious defence and beating all eight Munster teams in the division, they must be strong favourites to beat a UCC side who, due to exams, usually arrive at this point a little under-cooked.

The runners-up and other promoted sides have always made home advantage in the semi-finals tell, but given Young Munster will be feeling a little sore at missing out on promotion on the last day, they'll have every motivation to replicate their narrow win at this venue on the opening day of the season.

Clonakilty v Bruff

Shannonvale Cross (2.30); Suttonians v Wanderers

John J McDowell Memorial Grounds (2.30).

There's been no pattern to the Division Three play-offs, with teams from first, second, third and fourth winning out over the last four years.

The tie at Shannonvale Cross is the day's third all-Munster affair, and between two of the more upwardly mobile, community-based, relatively recent additions to the AIL.

Bruff are actually one of the two sides to have beaten Clonakilty, and the only ones at Shannonvale Cross at that, but Clonakilty must, nonetheless, start strong favourites.

Then another promoted side, Suttonians, would also be more marginal favourites in the other semi-finals.

But there would be something uncannily fitting about Wanderers reaching the last AIL triple-header at Lansdowne Road as we know it given their current rift with their landlords.

Today marks the ninth year of the AIB All-Ireland League semi-finals and rarely has the system or the line-up seemed more fitting. This elite quartet have been head and shoulders above the rest from a long way out.

Heretofore, the team who finished first in the regulation season have gone on to win the title, as have teams finishing second, while twice the third-placed club have made off with the title but never, thus far, the fourth finishers.

Then again, that has never included acknowledged AIL and Cup tie kingpins, Shannon.

Shannon, however, come into the semi-finals with more blips on their form radar of late, which coach Mick Galwey attributes to injuries and having more provincial call-ups than their rivals.

The Limerick club, for one, didn't put on any corporate events prior to the Heineken European Cup semi-final, making tickets available to club members, their senior squad and under-20 squad.

While it's all well and good that 40,000-plus of the Red Army will be striving to get tickets for the European Cup final, it will be interesting to see how many of them prove themselves to be, as Galwey puts it, "true rugby followers".

Not too many, one ventures, but as Paul Cunningham, coach of today's opponents Garryowen, puts it: "You wouldn't have a Munster team, and therefore a Red Army, if players like Foley, Wallace, Quinlan and many others hadn't cut their teeth in games like this for clubs like Garryowen and Shannon.

"And there's no reason why that shouldn't be the case in the future."