LEINSTER SENIOR LEAGUE CUP FINAL Clontarf - 9 St Mary's- 6:LEINSTER'S NUMBER one- ranked club Clontarf just about edged out St Mary's, with Darragh O'Shea's injury-time penalty, after a dour, error-ridden Leddin Finance Leinster Senior League Cup final at Donnybrook on Saturday.

The insistent rain turned ball-handling into something of a lottery and the trend for a weekend of no tries was set here as two packs showed all the commitment in the world without the finesse to make it pay dividends.

St Mary's owned the ball in the first half due to the work of lock Conor McInerney and the vigilance of their back row, only to spend too much time shovelling the ball sideways instead of taking a more direct route.

Their outhalf Frank Lynch, in the fourth minute, and Clontarf centre Darragh O'Shea, on half-time, broke even with one successful shot at goal each before St Mary's were hit with the loss of their captain Gareth Logan and number eight Kevin Sheahan to injury during the break.

It prompted the introduction of three forwards Juan Gomez, Steve Bradshaw and Robin Copeland, and any number of positional switches in the pack, allowing Clontarf to take the initiative from O'Shea's second penalty. But, Lynch was not to be outdone. He snapped a drop goal for the equalizer before O'Shea won the cup from wide on the left.

CLONTARF:I Keatley; P Howard, D O'Shea, C Keegan, M Hewitt; P O'Brien, P O'Donohoe; A Clarke, N Carson, N Treston, A Trenier, J Duffy, S Crawford (capt), C Elvin, M Garvey. Replacements: K Dorrian for Clarke (64 mins); D Keane for Hewitt (68 mins); S O'Donnell for Trenier (74 mins).

ST MARY'S:P Brophy; D Fanning, K Douglas, M Sexton, R Doherty; F Lynch, M D'Arcy; M Duggan, Richard Sweeney, Robert Sweeney, G Logan (capt), C McInerney, P Nash, H Hogan, K Sheahan.

Replacements:J Gomes for Duggan, R Copeland for Logan, S Bradshaw for Sheahan (all ht); P Nonu for Doherty (54 mins); B O'Flanagan for Nash (64 mins).

Referee:E O'Dowd, Leinster Branch.