Terenure College ... 15 Garryowen ... 22 Shane Leahy's sending off after 10 minutes could hardly be considered pivotal to the outcome - if anything, it had a cathartic effect on Garryowen. It was, though, the major conversational topic in the aftermath of Saturday's match at Lakelands.
The incident occurred just 10 minutes into the match at a ruck inside the Terenure 22. James Nolan, the Terenure loosehead prop, found himself prostrate on marginally the wrong side of a ruck, and received a shoeing for his troubles that left him with concussion and a gash that required 10 stitches to his temple.
On the intervention of touch judge Donal Courtney, referee Olan Trevor brandished the red card to a bemused Leahy. Terenure coach Kim Thurbon watched a video of the incident yesterday and was satisfied that the right player had been dismissed. The incident certainly merited a sending off, as the ball was not in the vicinity of the prone player.
Garryowen are to receive a copy of the video today and will then decide upon what action to pursue.
Nolan's injury overshadowed what was an absorbing encounter that pitted Terenure's facility to self-destruct against a Garryowen team that couldn't find the try line until the 77th minute, despite dominating territory and possession.
The home side led 15-6 after 36 minutes, having scored two tries through Robbie Devlin and Shane Cullen, but couldn't muster a single score for the remainder of the match. Their lineout was a shambles once Nolan departed, their scrum was tweaked and disrupted by a seven-man Garryowen pack and their chances of winning were diminished by haemorrhaging penalties, particularly in the second half.
They can feel a little aggrieved that referee Trevor largely perceived them to be the only offenders in the second 40 minutes: he awarded Terenure their first post-interval penalty in the 70th minute.
"Stupidity cost us the match," Thurbon said succinctly.
He was particularly annoyed at the number of times his team rammed the ball down the throat of Garryowen full back Dominic Crotty, who ran or kicked with great intelligence.
"There was some improvement from the previous week, particularly the way we defended our line for long periods," Thurbon said. "But you simply cannot make the number of mistakes that we did."
Were it not for the presence of Eric Miller, Terenure would have suffered even more. The Leinster and Ireland flanker, playing at number eight, shored up numerous deficiencies in a pack that was largely outplayed, Peter O'Malley notwithstanding.
The backs were on the weightwatchers diet: a few morsels from which they managed a brace of tries.
Garryowen will celebrate the performance of their pack, particularly the back row of Paul Neville, Peter Malone and the excellent John O'Sullivan at number eight.
"He (O'Sullivan) is an outstanding talent," coach John Warr said. "He's a good ball winner, carries it very well and is an excellent defender. There's not much that he can't do, really. I thought the whole back row worked very hard in a fine effort by the pack.
"We toughed it out when we lost the man. At half-time I said to the players that each individual had to up his game by five per cent to make up for the loss. They responded excellently.
"The good thing is that we created opportunities, but unfortunately, a bit like last week, our option-taking was poor. It is good we are looking to create things rather than sitting back and waiting for them to happen."
Garryowen's build-up play tantalised but their efforts to turn that into scores were singularly unimpressive. The one try they did manage for centre Dermot O'Sullivan borrowed heavily from good fortune and a strong suggestion of an undetected knock-on. But they deserved their victory.
Warr will want to introduce a touch of finishing-school polish to his charges. One inescapable fact is that they huffed and puffed for 77 minutes, despite being an man down, to eclipse a Terenure team that was struggling not to implode.
The home side led 15-6 at the interval, two tries coming from left wing Robbie Devlin. The first was initiated by a fine break from centre Mark O'Kelly, and the second was a result of a turnover near the Garryowen line that saw centre and captain Shane Cullen cross close to the posts. Richie Governey converted the latter, having earlier kicked a penalty.
Garryowen's response came through the boot of outhalf Killian Keane, kicking six from nine opportunities, five penalties and the conversion of Dermot O'Sullivan's try.
The Limerick club travel to Belfield next time out, while there is less likely to be much festive cheer at Lakelands come Christmas, with Terenure due to face Shannon and Clontarf in their next two matches.
SCORING SEQUENCE
12 mins: Governey penalty 3-0
18 mins: Devlin try 8-0
25 mins: Keane penalty 8-3
28 mins: Keane penalty 8-6
36 mins: Cullen try, Governey con 15-6
Half-time: 15-6
43 mins: Keane penalty 15-9
65 mins: Keane penalty 15-12
77 mins: D O'Sullivan try, Keane con 15-19
82 mins: Keane penalty 15-22
Terenure: D McAllister; P Costello, M O'Kelly, S Cullen (capt), R Devlin; R Governey, M Sutherland; J Nolan, C Egan, S Nolan; M Quinn, D Quinn; A Ryan, E Miller, P O'Malley. Replacements: R Roche for J Nolan 10-21 mins and 31 mins.
Garryowen: D Crotty; M Roberts, D O'Sullivan, J Brooks, D O'Riordan; K Keane, A O'Sullivan; S Kerr, C Varley (capt), R Laffan; S Leahy, D Sheehan; P Neville, J O'Sullivan, P Malone. Replacements: J Staunton for Laffan 60 mins.
Referee: O Trevor (Munster)
Yellow card: R Governey (Terenure) 39-49 mins.
Sent off: S Leahy (Garryowen) 10 mins.
