Brent Pope shook his head in disbelief as his crumbling side continued to disintegrate. An injury crisis of devastating proportions had forced him to travel to Dungannon with only four of last season's title-winning side. By the end of a punishing 80 minutes just one member of his championship side was left standing, Trevor Brennan the latest high-profile casualty after limping off just before half-time with a leg injury.
Pope's youngsters did all that was asked of them, but were never going to rise to Dungannon's power-packed challenge. "We seem to be losing players every week, I just don't know where we go from here, I don't know when the injured guys will be coming back," he said. "I'm reasonably excited about the future, because when you're playing with eight or nine under-21 guys, it's giving them important experience.
"But it's asking a lot to put them out there against a massive Dungannon pack. We had to send in people who hadn't played senior rugby before, against the likes of Paddy Johns and the rest, seasoned pros."
One particular seasoned pro had plenty to smile about. Dungannon prop Gary Leslie became the first player to appear in 100 AIL games, and after marking the occasion with a win, he was upbeat about the future. "Last season we consolidated, and if we can get our best team out week after week, maybe we can become a force this year," said Leslie.
Of his 100th game, Leslie, a former Ulster regular who won two Ireland A caps in the mid-1990s, said: "It was just another game really."
Dungannon too had to field a below strength side, short five representative players, but in David Humphreys they had a match-winner. Humphreys called the shots in a masterful tactical display, and kicked almost flawlessly, a perfect seven from seven until a difficult injury-time conversion attempt drifted just wide.
The Tyrone side, after trailing 8-0 to a Ray McIlreavy try and an Eddie Hekenui penalty, finally began to ruthlessly exploit the inexperience of a makeshift St Mary's side in the second-half. Humphreys kicked two penalties to reduce the interval deficit to 86, and as the Dublin side struggled to cope with waves of Dungannon attacks, they conceded a series of penalties, which the Ulster outhalf stroked over with ease to give his side an 18-8 advantage.
Then the inevitable gaps began to open in the champions' defence. Alastair Boyd went through one gaping hole for a 72nd minute try, and Bryn Cunningham grabbed a second in injury-time to seal it for Willie Anderson's men.
Scoring sequence: 2 mins: Hekenui pen, 0-3; 23 mins: McIlreavy try, 0-8; 27 mins: Humphreys pen, 3-8; 38 mins: Humphreys pen, 6-8; 43 mins: Humphreys pen, 9-8; 46 mins: Humphreys pen, 12-8; 51 mins: Humphreys pen, 15-8; 54 mins: Humphreys pen, 18-8; 72 mins: Boyd try, Humphreys conv, 25-8; 84 mins: B Cunningham try, 308.
DUNGANNON: B Cunningham; A Hood, A Redpath, Alistair Clarke, J Cunningham; D Humphreys, R Mercer; R Mackey, Allen Clarke, G Leslie, P Johns, A Kearney, A Boyd, A Hughes, T McWhirter. Replacements: R Stafford for McWhirter, J Turkington for Mercer.
ST MARY'S: D Hughes; A Conboy, G Gannon, R McIlreavy, G Ingles; E Hekenui, E McCormack; J O'Connor, P Smith, B Moran, F Fitzgerald, D Griffin, T Brennan, J Jennings, V Costello. Replacements: M Donnellan for Griffin, N Keane for Brennan, B Bartley for Gannon,, C McPhillips for Conboy, G Hickie for Ingles.
Referee: D Tyndall (Leinster).
