Shannon are the side of the century

Hats off. Shannon's status brooks no arguments now, for not only did they prove themselves the best side of the 1990s with this fourth AIB League crown in a row, but probably of the century as well. The record books will show that Shannon set the benchmark in this inaugural final and that is right and fitting, for they are the standard-bearers.

It may not have entranced the wider audience, for it was a disappointingly unambitious, error-prone spectacle, but it will have been absorbing enough to the interested. Also, this victory has to be taken in the context of the last four years, and 44 wins in 48 games says it all.

As six-point wins go, this was about as clear cut as they get. All the old traditional Shannon values applied, along with many of the newer ones brought to the team by Rhys Ellison in particular.

Defensively well nigh impenetrable, collectively cool as cucumbers in their rare moments of potential crisis, their pack's and half-backs' greater control of the set-pieces and the tactics, the ability to pick up the tempo when required, the game's outstanding performer in Anthony Foley and, yet again, the metronomic goal-kicking of Andrew Thompson. Game, set and match.

Garryowen were an immense disappointment, and played in a tactical straitjacket. Not unexpectedly, David Wallace's ankle injury limited his contribution to 27 restricted minutes, so depriving them of their leading try scorer and most potent runner. Of all the days and of all the opponents, it had to be this one.

Shane Leahy, his shoulder damaged by one of several crunching hits on the day from Eddie Halvey, wasn't even a line-out option long before he too gave way. Even when Leahy was an option, poor Pat Humphreys could rarely locate him or Van Humphreys.

They won only three of their first 10 throws. Things improved after the introduction of Paul Cunningham, who found Van Humphreys with 12 of his 13 deliveries, but by then Garryowen had assumed the look of a beaten side.

Garryowen needed to launch their line-out drive and apply pressure in the scrums to have any chance. They did neither. The theory goes that Shannon can be got at in the scrums, but it's rarely put into practice.

In the prelude to the last and decisive score, Garryowen put on a bit of a shove, Shannon steadied it, tweaked it to the left for Foley to pick up and take ball, Barry Everitt and Andrew Bermingham five yards over the gain line. Mick Galwey arrived at pace, Halvey and Colm McMahon took it on some more before Van Humphreys positioned himself to prevent release under the ever vigilant eye of the excellent Dave McHugh. High fives between Galwey and Alan Quinlan, another three points for Thompson.

Goodnight, and thanks for the dance.

Not wishing to detract from Thompson's unerring accuracy - a perfect 12 out of 12 in the two knock-out games plus the opening drop goal on Saturday - but for those chances to be created, the pack had to do the business and all five of Shannon's scores originated with a trademark Foley charge.

Mind, he looked pretty shattered. "I'm flahed," admitted Foley. "Mentally and physically, all the boys in there are drained. The occasion, the pressure, the atmosphere takes everything out of you. Today tops it though, and we'll have a few drinks tonight, tomorrow and on Monday, as tradition has it."

The celebrations will officially last three days, with a champagne breakfast instigating today's proceedings. They should be in good nick for Wednesday's Munster Senior Cup quarter-final with Crescent.

Usually not far behind Foley were the other big impact men, Halvey, Galwey and Quinlan. In the contact situations, Garryowen simply didn't have that muscle, decent games though Wallace's replacement Dara O'Sullivan, Paul Hogan (who moved to number eight) and Van Humphreys had.

Marcus Horan and John Hayes had pretty dynamic games as well, and Garryowen's line-out travail was put in perspective by the under-rated Mark McDermott's throwing and efforts in the nitty-gritty forward skirmishes.

Ditto at scrum-half, where 21year-old Frank McNamara cleared the ball unfussily and quickly and although Jim Galvin didn't set the ground alight, he showed inestimably more variation and control than the off-colour Barry Everitt.

Garryowen lived up to their name a mite too literally. Everitt, incredibly, kicked his first nine passes of the second-half, in the interim dropping one when eyeing up a drop-goal. Even in injury time, six points down, he was still doing it.

When he first moved the ball on, after 35 minutes of the half, Joe Brooks duly kicked it. Everitt didn't come on to the ball like he normally does at all. In mitigation, Shannon were quick to cut off his options, and always had the numbers up.

Although Galvin once, and Ellison a couple of times, made inroads and they created a little space out wide, Garryowen too were effective in closing down space (Kilian Keane and Dominic Crotty having good games with their general play). So, the value bet of the day (20 to 1 it being tryless) came up.

"They always come out the right end of those games," admitted Philip Danaher, generous in his praise of "deserving" winners. "At the end of the day, rugby is about winning and the team who makes the least mistakes wins. And you've got guys pounding into each other who know each other inside out. People mightn't say it was a classic, but I think anyone who was at the ground will have enjoyed it for the closeness and the tension."

Similar sentiments were expressed by Niall O'Donovan, the coach who kick-started Shannon's current hegemony. "What won it for us today? I think the self-belief that they were just finishing off the hard work they'd done all year. A bit of pride in themselves. I thought we looked tired and very sluggish at the end."

O'Donovan revealed that Shannon's first crisis came five minutes before kick-off when Galwey came into the dressing-room and declared "I'm gone" after damaging a muscle in his arm during warm-up drills on the back pitch.

But Galwey wasn't going to miss out on this one. "Apart from beating England a couple of times, I would have to say this is my greatest day," beamed the embodiment of Shannon. "It was with my Shannon team-mates."

That Shannon should have so many better performers on the day and generally played better, yet still only win by six points, seems a misnomer. They can be a bit minimalist and limited, and don't always put away tries, handling errors in the final 22 undoing some good approach work. But ultimately they're masters at just doing enough to win.

Yep, winners alright.

Scoring sequence: 3 mins: Thompson drop goal 0-3; 9: Keane penalty 3-3; 20: Thompson penalty 3-6; 26: Thompson penalty 3-9; 45: Keane penalty 6-9; 49: Thompson penalty 6-12; 53: Keane penalty 9-12; 65: Thompson penalty 9-15.

Shannon: Jason Hayes; J Lacey, P McMahon, R Ellison, A Thompson; J Galvin, F McNamara; M Horan, M McDermott, John Hayes, M Galwey, K Keane, A Quinlan, A Foley (capt), E Halvey. Replacements - C McMahon for Keane (45 mins).

Garryowen: D Crotty; J Clarke, K Keane (capt), J Brooks, K O'Riordan; B Everett, S McIvor; G Walsh, P Humphreys, P Spain, S Leahy, V Humphreys, P Hogan, D Wallace, A Bermingham. Replacements - D O'Sullivan for Wallace (27 mins), P Cunningham for P Humphreys (half-time), T Tierney for McIvor (62 mins), C Varley for Leahy (56 mins).

Refeeree: Dave McHugh (Munster).