THESE two have treated us to a few crackers through the years in the AIB League, and although there might have been a few thousand less on the terraces at Dooradoyle yesterday, both sides still managed to produce an encounter that wouldn't have looked out of place in this competition's heyday. The long and short of it is that Shannon progress to the AIB Division One final but it was a close thing thanks to a fascinating last five minutes.

With the game poised beautifully at 18-17 to the visitors, Garryowen earned a penalty 40-yards from the post and close to the left touchline.

Against the wind, it looked like a near impossible kick but Conor Kilroy somehow found the power and accuracy to squeeze the ball inside the right-hand post. 20-18 and Garryowen going to the final.

Or so we thought.

But Shannon aren't Ireland's most successful club side for nothing. With the game three minutes into injury time they somehow managed to work their way deep into Garryowen territory and when Trevor Hogan made a foray for the line, referee Olan Trevor adjudged that Garryowen had infringed and Shannon had a kick to win it. David Delaney, their outhalf, was the man who stepped up to take it and although all sorts of things must have been going through his head, he showed tremendous character to keep this goal and slot the ball between the sticks. Typical Shannon.

Not that they didn't deserve to progress to Saturday's final. Mick Galwey's side played most of the rugby during the game, especially in a fine effort against the wind in the first-half, and in Eoin Cahill and Brian Tuohy they had the two most impressive performers on display. Garryowen, on the other hand, were forced to rely on scraps and although they made some meat out of it, it just wasn't enough in the end.

They did lead, though, 11-5 at the break, even if it was against the run of play. Shannon played most of the rugby, holding onto the ball and recycling it with a huge degree of efficiency. Garryowen found it extremely difficult to get on the front foot and there was little surprise when they Parish side took the lead. Padraic O'Brien and Trevor Hogan, the secondrow pairing, earned some decent yardage with a couple of pick and goes inside the Garryowen half and when John O'Connor made a clean break, he combined with the impressive Brian Tuohy to put Eoin Cahill away in the corner.

From there Shannon continued to dominate but completely against the run of play the home side dragged themselves level.

Ciaran O'Boyle on the right wing was the player who made the try after his superb line-break from right to left found Shannon napping and when the ball was recycled and spun left, his brother, Cillian, put Conor Kilroy away in the corner, the full-back eventually getting the ball down.

Having found a score from nowhere, it was Garryowen's turn to dominate.

They didn't kick the ball as much as you would have imagined considering the wind they had at their backs but Ciaran O'Boyle was a constant menace out wide, and it was from his second break of the game that Shannon infringed to allow Kilroy the opportunity with the boot to put the home side 8-5 in front.

Two minutes before the break that lead was increased to six points when Kilroy again landed a penalty after Shannon were penalised for not releasing the tackler.

That gap didn't look anywhere near enough at this point but Garryowen made a fist of it, copying Shannon's first-half tactics. Two Kilroy penalties, matched by two from Delaney gave the home side a 17-11 lead with 12 minutes to go and then the drama started.

After a great break by O'Brien, which was followed up by a superb run from Tuohy, Shannon kept the ball tight and Cahill joined his forwards to force the ball over the line. Delaney added the conversion from an acute angle to put Shannon 18-17 front and then the finale played itself out.

Typical Shannon, as we said, but they deserved it.

GARRYOWEN C Kilroy; Ciaran O'Boyle, K Hartigan, P Devlin, Cillian O'Boyle; C Doyle, G Hurley; R Brosnan, P Humphreys, P Laffan, E Mackey, D Sheahan, P Neville, P Malone (c), A Kavanagh. Subs A O'Loughlin for Hartigan, 36mins; M Melbourne for Sheehan, h/t; F Pala'amo for Laffan, 58mins; D Varley for Humphries, 75mins

SHANNON D O'Donovan; P O'Connor, B Tuohy, J Colgan, E Cahill; D Delaney, F McNamara; L Hogan, TJ Hickey, G McNamara, T Hogan, P O'Brien, C McMahon (c), D Ryan, J O'Connor. Subs J Hadnett for McMahon, 59mins Referee O Trevor (Munster)