IT WOULD be a foolish man that would bet against Shannon or, at least, a Munster club getting their hands on the AIB League title after this tepid Clontarf dismissal of Galwegians at Castle Avenue.

It looked as though Clontarf would freewheel to the last four when number eight Philip Purdue put his head down and made it over the line, despite the best efforts of openside flanker Ivan Muldoon.

Full-back Darragh O'Shea's conversion counted with the glancing aid of the right upright and he struck an 11thminute penalty to make it 100.

Even so, Galwegians, who were effectively fighting for Division One survival, played with little ambition and rarely moved the ball beyond the confines of the fringes.

Whatever coach Phil Werahiko said at the break, it had the desired effect.

Niall O'Brien took Marc Hewitt's delayed pass all the way to the line. Sweeney held onto the ball as the rest of the pack took him over the whitewash from a line-out and driving maul in the 53rd minute.

In between, Ireland under21 international Peter Durcan launched a monster drop goal and Brian Murphy opted for a penalty to make it 22-6 when a kick to the corner looked the more obvious choice.

Clontarf needed the bonus point to complete their mission.

Hewitt's deft touches threatened to do the trick.

Eventually, Purdue burst clear of a maul with no one at home in the visitors' defence.

Blindside flanker Darragh French was identified as the man on the ball when another close in maul made it to the line.

CLONTARF D O'Shea; N O'Brien, M Hewitt, J Downey, D Keane; P O'Brien, F O'Loughlin; J Wickham, N Carson, R Sweeney, A Wood, D Quinn, D French, P Purdue, J Ellison Subs P Whatley for Carson, 44 mins; D Geraghty for O'Loughlin, A O'Donnell for Wickham, 62 mins; K Dorrian for Sweeney, 72 mins; M Woods for Purdue, 73 mins

GALWEGIANS P Durcan; B Bartley, J Culkin, H Murphy, P Phelan; B Murphy, T Ellard; D O'Brien, C Muldoon, R Davies, D Boyd (A Browne 76), B McLearn, A Conboy (c), A McGettigan, I Muldoon Subs A Gallagher for Conboy, 20 mins; J Burke for Muldoon, h-t; A Browne for Boyd, 76 mins Referee G English, IRFU