Terenure college brought off the shock result of the league to date when they outplayed the champions in Tipperary on Saturday. They were full value for their remarkable 19-point win. Everything seemed to be against Terenure before the game: their form has been poor so far this season and brilliant back row forward, Eric Miller, was a late defection because of a knee injury. And after only two minutes of the game John Lacey had crossed for a try for Shannon.

"The early try may well have worked against them," said the Terenure scrum-half and man-of-the-match, Niall Hogan, and when Terenure knuckled down to their task Shannon seemed to have no answer. Craig Fitzpatrick landed a penalty on 11 minutes then Girvan Dempsey crossed for a try.

Before half-time Billy Treacy dropped a 40-metre goal and Fitzpatrick put over a hat-trick of penalties to make it 20 points to five.

Shannon had the wind at their backs in the second half but Terenure now held them in a vicelike grip. Rory Sherrif continued to dominate the line-outs and the New Zealand number eight, Gavin Hill, was a huge influence. Little was seen of the Shannon's usually hugely influential Alan Quinlan and Mick Galwey.

Shannon did narrow the gap with a penalty by Andrew Thompson in the 51st minute, but the issue was effectively decided on the hour when Hogan nipped around the side of a ruck, threw a dummy and then scampered through a big gap for a try which Fitzpatrick converted. To add to Shannon's woes they lost a number of players through injury, most notably their New Zealand centre, Rhys Ellison.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: J Lacey try, 0-5; 11 mins: C Fitzpatrick pen, 3-5; 17 mins: G Dempsey try, 8-5; 22 mins: W Treacy dr gl, 115; 25 mins: Fitzpatrick pen, 14-5; 35 mins: Fitzpatrick pen, 17-5; 39 mins: Fitzpatrick pen, 20-5; 51 mins: A Thomson pen, 20-8; 59 mins: N Hogan try, Fizpatrick con 27-8.

Terenure: C Clarke; D Coleman, W Treacy, M Smyth, G Dempsey; C Fitzpatrick, N Hogan; S Barretto, J Blaney, J Campbell, R Sherrif, C Potts, D Blaney, P O'Malley, G Hill. Replacement: B Kavanagh for O'Malley (76 mins).

Shannon: B Roche; J Lacey, P McMahon, R Ellison, A Thompson; C Burke, S Johnson; M Horan, M McDermott, J Hayes, M Galwey, D Kirby, A Quinlan, E Halvey, A Foley. Replacements: C McMahon for Kirby (45 mins); F McNamara for Johnson (51 mins); N Healy for Hayes (51 mins); A McGrath for Ellison (80 mins); Jason Hayes for McMahon (84 mins).

Referee: B Smith (Munster).