McGowan rescues Blackrock

There were some dark mutterings after the match from Garryowen that the five minutes of injury time didn't help their cause in this swinging game at Stradbrook. When Alan McGowan landed his pressure penalty with the last kick of the match to leave the game even, it added a theatrical flourish to a match that could have done with more.

But the scoreboard looked about right and if anything it was Garryowen who deserved better. Blackrock rarely moved out of their own half for the first 60 minutes of the match, although when they did so they looked sharper than their opponents, who although camped for long periods on the Blackrock 22, couldn't get much in return.

In that time they provided a powerful demonstration of how to recycle the ball but for what? There was simply no penetration.

Blackrock's beefy centres Michael Jackson and Gary Browne added weight to a pack that only really creaked right at the end when Garryowen ran in what appeared to be a match-winning try a minute into injury time.

The visitors wheeled a five-yard scrum on the Blackrock put in, turned over possession and allowed replacement wing forward Colin Varley get the touch down from among a pile of bodies.

"The ball bobbled in the channel and shot out their side. They capitalised well on it," said Blackrock captain Leo Cullen. "But it was important for us that we were able to come back from that in the last few minutes."

Killian Keane's conversion from the Varley try appeared to have handed the match to Garryowen as they led 13-16. But Blackrock's final flourish from the re-start saw them sweep up the pitch and earn the McGowan penalty.

It was McGowan and Keane who dominated the scoring for the first hour, Keane landing three from five attempts in the first half with McGowan's drop goal and penalty keeping the scores tight at 6-9.

"They ran the ball well into the wind and we probably kicked it away too often. Then in the last 15 minutes we stopped running the ball and let them sneak back into it," said Cullen.

It was prop Ian McLaughlin who handed Blackrock back the lead for the first time since the 12th minute when he crashed over from two yards out on 63 minutes for 13-9. This arrived during one of Blackrock's better phases and in 10 minutes camped up at the clubhouse end of the ground they had achieved what Garryowen struggled to do in the previous 40 minutes.

Steve Mackay was lively on the left wing for Garryowen and Dominic Crotty made efforts from full back to add another dimension to the Limerick attack but overall it remained flat. Garryowen were well drilled in setting up moves and gaining ground in selected areas of the pitch but both defences dominated and ultimately the creativity simply wasn't there to crack either side.

"Some people afterwards were saying well done, others were saying hard luck," said Cullen. "Early in the season we were winning against Ballymena when they came back scored a try and we didn't get back into it. On Saturady I was just happy in the end that we were able to get something out of the match."

Scoring sequence: 2 minutes: A McGowan drop goal, 3-0; 12 minutes: K Keane penalty, 3-3; 22 minutes: K Keane penalty 3-6; 27 minutes: K Keane penalty, 3-9 (half-time); 44 minutes: A McGowan penalty, 6-9; 63 minutes: I McLaughlin try, McGowan conversion, 13-9; 41 minutes: C Varley try, Keane conversion, 13-16; 45 minutes: A McGowan penalty, 16-16

BLACKROCK: N Turner; C Kilroy, G Browne, M Jackson, D Johnson; A McGowan, J Ferris; I McLaughlin, S Byrne, N Treston, R Treacy, L Cullen (capt.), T Hogan, R Rogers, D McGettigan. Replacements: G McCarthy for Hogan 59 mins; D Quinlan for Jackson 64 mins; A McSweeney for McLaughlin 71 mins.

GARRYOWEN: DE Crotty; M Roberts, K Hartigan, C Foley, S McKay; K Keane, T Tierney (capt); N Hartigan, P Humphreys, R Laffan, R Leahy, E Kelly, P Neville, C Hartigan, J O'Sullivan. Replacements: C Varley for Hartigan 62 mins.

Referee: O Trevor (Munster).