THE full complement of points was harvested, thus the primary objective was attained by Shannon, the defending first division champions in the Insurance Corporation All Ireland League, against Terenure College at Thomond Park last Saturday.

So yet another important advance towards retention of the title and the attainment of a third consecutive championship for Shannon. But while the end product yielded the full dividend, invaluable and welcome though this win was, its execution was rooted in anxiety. Fortune favoured the champions as they terminated the title ambitions of yet another club as they%ad done the previous week at Stradbrook.

It was the kicking accuracy of Andrew Thompson that steered Shannon to success he kicked five from six attempts. Terenure's right wing Girvan Dempsey, kicked four from six. It was as close as that as the match failed to produce a try. It was the first time this season that Shannon failed to score a try, a ready tribute to the resilience of the Terenure defence and the manner in which they limited opportunity.

No club has so formidable a home record in the league and no club has managed to take even a point against Shannon in the competition at Thomond Park for three years. That is an intimidating statistic for any visiting team. Terenure went nearer to ending that great record than any side in recent seasons.

It was a very believed Shannon team that heard the final whistle last Saturday. That emotion was foremost in the Shannon dressing room after the match. Realism has long been a Shannon characteristic and it prevailed after this match. No exultant rendering of There Is An Isle, just the satisfaction of having taken two more points and the gratitude for the fact they still have their three points advantage over the nearest pursuit with just three matches to play. Equally the knowledge that it could well have been so very different.

Shannon coach Niall O'Donovan is as honest as he is accomplished and was under no illusions. It was a case of disappointment and delight for him. "In many respects we were lucky to win the match. We gave a very disappointing performance but are delighted to have taken the two points. We Just did not play well. Terenure deserve a lot of credit for their display but we made far too many mistakes. We played like a team afraid of losing the match, rather than with the belief that we could win. It was one of those occasions and we got away with it."

He then paid tribute to Terenure. "We never thought for a minute it was going to be easy. They upset our line out and matched us in the scrum. But even allowing for that and giving Terenure due credit, we gave a very poor performance in the line out. There was no real control on our own ball and in the general play, we made far too many mistakes that were of our own making." It is hard to argue against that assessment.

Terenure coach Gerry Murphy was understandably disappointed. "We matched them up front, we rucked well and competed for every ball. I thought our number eight Mark Egan was outstanding. We just did not get enough good possession in their half to put them under pressure. But the reality is that they won, even if we were unlucky to lose. But we showed out there that we can compete with the best in the first division."

Terenure certainly did that and they were never overawed by the achievements of their opponents or afraid to take them on. Their pack did very well and did not allow the Shannon pack any latitude. They tackled well on the fringes and contained Shannon's powerful driving and mauling. Their line out tactics frustrated Shannon and if Terenure were not able to make any ground with the maul, they rucked well and proved a match for the Shannon eight.

It was never less than an absorbing match with the threat of a real upset adding to the sense of anticipation. There was not a lot in the way of attacking play behind the scrum and when there was, handling errors allied to tight defence meant that neither defence was breached. Alan McGrath produced one great run for Shannon that almost yielded the dividend and one excellent six man handling movement before the interval was stopped by Terenure for whom Cillian de Gascun almost provided the initiative for an opening and David Coleman was knocked into touch just short of the Shannon line.

Terenure had the wind in the first half at the end of which they led 6-3 with penalites from Dempsey in the fourth and 24th minutes to one from Thompson in the 17th. It scarcely seemed enough of an advantage in the prevailing climate and some very long clearances out of defence by Terenure full back Ciaran Clarke suggested that Shannon would be able to use the wind to goods effect in the second period.

But they could never exert sustained pressure on Terenure, who defended very well when Shannon got into good attacking positions. Thompson levelled the scores with a penalty in the 47th minute, but Terenure went ahead on two subsequent occasions. Dempsey kicked his third goal in the 52nd minute, Thompson equalised in the 60th and when Dempsey put Terenure ahead for the fourth time with just over a quarter of an hour to go, a real surprise beckoned. Thompson, however, levelled matters yet again with a kick from 27 yards three minutes later and he put his side ahead for the first time in the match nine minutes from time.