TERENURE'S hopes of being the first team to break the Munster monopoly in the All-Ireland league perished at Rosbrien in Limerick on Saturday when their vigorous siege of the Old Crescent line in the second half came to nought.

Their supporters in a crowd of about 2,000 felt that they were hard done by when the referee Bertie Smith reversed the award of a try to their number eight Joe Kelly in the 48th minute, deciding to award a relieving penalty kick to Crescent for an infringement in a ruck by Terenure's Peter Bruce.

Consequently, Terenure may not have been too distressed when the referee later limped off with a leg muscle injury to be replaced by local linesman John Healy; yet they had only themselves to blame for a series of missed opportunities which might have given them the points their ambitions required.

A clearly baffled Terenure coach, Gerry Murphy, confessed afterwards that his charges had wasted their clear superiority in the second half. "We had enough of the ball to win three matches, but took too many wrong options. To be fair to Crescent they defended brilliantly and we have no complaints about the outcome.

"The linesman saw something before the touch down and Joe Kelly's try was cancelled. But we should have won anyway, he said.

As half-time approached Old Crescent seemed to be on the verge of a somewhat easy win to ease their relegation fears. They were leading by 14-0 and had set up camp in Terenure's half of the field, easily beating off occasional forays by the disjointed Dublin side.

Then, with only a minute or so left in the half, Terenure broke out of their shell and a move from the halfway line involving Ciaran Clarke, Brendan Kavanagh and John Sherry saw Michael Smyth hack the ball on over the Crescent line and then win the race for the touchdown. Peter Walsh converted and Terenure were back in the match, a position they did not really deserve.

It was, in fact, a distortion of the way the half had gone. Crescent were well worth their 6-0 advantage after 15 minutes; Stephen Tuohy having punished two Terenure transgressions with successful penalty kicks. Crescent were unlucky not to be further ahead after a series of attacks on the Terenure line, notably when Mark Hayes knocked on with the line at his mercy.

Crescent scored a deserved try in the 29th minute when a sweeping move involving the entire three-quarter line, of Sean Madigan, Barry O'Neill, Anthony O'Dwyer and Fergus Walsh, ended with Walsh going over for the try which Tuohy converted. Tuohy then added to Terenure's woes when he put another three points on the board before Terenure's try-scoring raid on the call of half-time.

Terenure had lost David Coleman with a "dead leg" on the half hour; but with John Sherry coming into the side, they managed to drive Crescent back after the break with the slight wind in their favour.

Terenure might have closed the gap had they opted for kicks at the posts, rather than scrums in the second half, when Crescent seemed to be buckling; but when the Dublin club finally did opt for a kick at goal, Walsh saw the ball bounce back off the post.

Another obstacle for Terenure throughout the match was the superb tackling of Anthony O'Dwyer in the Crescent centre; and he and his colleagues managed to soak up all the Terenure pressure before Tuohy sealed the issue with a drop goal after 64 minutes.