Shannon Notes Week ending February 27^th 2010

There was little in the way of consolation in Coonagh  last Saturday  at 4pm. Defeat is always difficult to take, but when you leave the pitch having been outplayed and out muscled it’s that little bit harder to absorb, especially when your standards are so high. Blackrock were full value for their comprehensive victory and certainly deserved their celebrations. They came to Limerick on a mission and they delivered the goods which maintain their interest on the top three. From our point of view it’s a question of looking ahead and rectifying the problems of our least effective display of the season. We’ve lost games prior to last Saturday, but in each of those games the main disappointment was that we should have won them; last Saturday we never looked like winning and produced a very uncharacteristic flat performance. Mitigating circumstances were few and far between, but the loss of several key players did have a bearing on the balance of the side. It’s our first game of the season that we failed to secure at least a losing bonus point, however we do still remain in second place. It’s a question of putting the result and the performance behind us and moving on. The players and management are the ones that will be self critical and it is them that will no doubt rectify the shortcomings of last Saturday and let’s not get to despondent as one bad result doesn’t insinuate too many of those shortcomings. A big bounce back is required and the Munster senior cup semi final on Saturday against UCC will be an opportunity to do just that. It will be played despite the fact that the AIB club international is on the night before in England. It’s wonderful to see that we have our biggest representation on the side with three players selected. Mike Essex, Fergal Walsh and Stephen Kelly are all selected to start on Friday evening and we congratulate each of them on this fantastic accolade.

The cup game takes place in Rosbrien at 2.00.

It was more woe on Sunday when the seconds went to Bruff and were beaten in a league game. With the seniors calling up a number of regulars the previous day it was a depleted side that took to the field and they proved no match for the home team despite taking an early lead through Martin Casey. With several players playing out of position the lads found it difficult to get any real momentum, and with Bruff fielding one of our great AIL champions from the past, Eoin Cahill, it was always going to be difficult getting much return from the game. Hopefully we can have a more settled side facing Cashel this Sunday when we head to Tipperary for the Munster Junior cup. This will be one of the most difficult games that the seconds will face this season and if they are to advance it will take a bit more than skill. That game has a 2.30 start.

The one shining beacon over the weekend saw the thirds return to winning ways when they enjoyed a convincing win over St Marys in eth Mc Inerney cup. It was a very good display from the lads who managed to score some excellent tries. St Marys were resilient for most of the first half, but a couple of tries just before the break seemed to break their resistance and from that point we enjoyed the lion’s share of possession. Despite the rather lopsided scoreline it wasn’t really a reflection of a good game with both sides contributing. This weekend there’s no game for the thirds, but they’ll be preparing for the Gleeson league semi final the following week.

The U/20’s play their penultimate game in the south western conference of the AIL when they travel to Cork to take on UCC. It will be a very difficult task for the lads who head down with what will be a squad shorn of a number of players who will be called up for senior duty.

Outside of club matters the biggest news of the coming weekend will be the 100^th cap for John Hayes when he takes to the Twickenham pitch. There’ll be an awful lot written about this colossus of a man so there’s no real need to reemphasis his contribution to Irish rugby but suffice to say that we are very proud that Shannon helped John to gaining this world wide recognition . We salute and congratulate John and his family on what will hopefully be a memorable day.

Underage fixtures this weekend as follows

U11s Blitz:                  Shannon Blacks Coonagh 10.30 a.m.

Shannon Blues (away at UL Bohs) 10.30 a.m.

U13s Semi-final:         Shannon  -v-  UL Bohs Coonagh  11.30 a.m.

U14s Semi-final:         Shannon  -v-  UL Bohs Coonagh 12 noon

U15s League:              Bruff  -v-  Shannon Kilballyowen, Bruff 11.30 a.m.

 U19s Friendly: Shannon -v- Galwegians Coonagh  KO 12.30