SUPERB Shannon turned on the power in the second half to carve out a hard-fought 12point win over a combative Lansdowne side at headquarters.

The champions and league leaders came into the game without nine of their regular contingent yet they still managed to dig deep and run in three superb tries after the break and remain on course for yet another tilt at the title.

Lansdowne led 7-3 at the end of an entertaining but closely fought first half before the visitors showed their strength in depth to wrap up their tenth win from 11 outings this season and maintain their position at the top of the table.

The home side dominated possession for the opening 30 minutes but scoring chances were few and far between as both sides fought a determined forward battle between their respective 22metre lines.

But while Lansdowne had the edge for much of the opening half and hour, it took them a full 24 minutes before they could turn their possession into points.

Fine work by scrum half Shane Whelan saw wing forward Jim O'Donovan take the ball on and pass to outhalf Brian O'Meara, who did well to gather the ball around head height and touch down for the first try of the afternoon.

Corey Burt slotted the extra points with an excellent kick but the score only signalled a resurgence in Shannon's fortunes.

The Munster side's best scoring chance of the first half came on 38 minutes when the ball was spread wide to prop Les Hogan, who could not gather a poor pass from Brian Tuohy when he looked certain to score on the overlap.

Shannon eventually got on the scoreboard in added time in the first half when David Delaney knocked over a straightforward penalty chance to make it 7-3 at the break.

But any hopes that Lansdowne may have entertained of causing an upset were quickly shattered shortly after the restart when fullback David O'Donovan touched down after an attacking scrum.

Delaney converted to put Shannon 10-7 in front and while Burt levelled the scores on 47 minutes with a penalty goal it was not long before Shannon showed their superiority and put the game beyond the home side's reach.

After 51 minutes, winger Brian Tuohy had too much pace for the Lansdowne defence and touched down on the left flank with Delaney adding the conversion to put the visitors 17-10 in front.

Lansdowne looked shellshocked at this stage and when Andrew Thompson culminated another Shannon attack with a well-taken 65th minute drop goal, there was only going to be one winner.

Leading 20-10 at this stage, Shannon continued to press forward in search of tries and it took them only two minutes to get another score on the board through hooker Sean Cronin.

Lansdowne hooker Kevin Corrigan spilled a pass as his side broke up the pitch and the ball was swiftly gathered by Shannon full back O'Donovan who set 19-yarold Cronin on an impressive charge to the line.

Delaney converted to put the game beyond Lansdowne's reach at 27-10 but in fairness to Liam Toland's side, they never threw in the towel.

They got their reward on 69 minutes when full back Justin Meagher used his pace to score on the right flank and Shannon were lucky to avoid another Lansdowne consolation try in added time when O'Donovan got across to tackle Brendan McGeever into touch.

LANSDOWNE J Meagher; N Walsh, B McGeever, C Burt, F Baynes; B O'Meara, S Whelan; J Lyne, K Corrigan, E Bohan, A Maher, D Toner, D Lavin, J O'Donovan, R Boucher.
Subs G O'Meara for Toner, 70 mins; S O'Connor for Corrigan, 70 mins; D Coughlin for Whelan, 77 mins; A McCormack for Baynes 77 mins.

SHANNON D O'Donovan; P O'Connor, A Thompson, E Cahill, B Tuohy; D Delaney, F McNamara; L Hogan, S Cronin, G McNamara, D Ryan, P O'Brien, A Meaney, C McMahon, E Halvey. Subs M Tuohy for Cahill, 67 mins; D Keane for Meaney, 75 mins; TJ Hickey for Cronin 80 mins.

Referee Marshall Kilgore (Ulster)