Cork Con 15
Garryowen 11
Cork Constitution staged a marvellous recovery from six points and a man down to record a deserved victory over Garryowen in the AIB Cup final in Athlone on Saturday.

Despite being the better team in the first half, things looked ominous for the Cork side at half-time as Garryowen held a significant advantage. In the same passage of play Garryowen barged over for a try to surge 11-5 ahead while Con lost the services of lock Ian Nagle, who received a red card for allegedly punching in a ruck.

Con seemed on the ropes after an opening half where they had the bulk of the possession, but failed to build on a bright opening when Richard Lane got in for a try after fifteen minutes.

In front of a 2,000-strong crowd, Cork Con started strongly with scrum half Duncan Williams, winger Cronan Healy and captain Evan Ryan stretching their legs early on, Garryowen were kept on the defensive. From an overlap on the left, Brian Walsh's men made huge gains, running their way into the Garryowen 22, Munster's Billy Holland was held up close to the line before Scott Deasy swung a long pass out for winger Lane to go over unchallenged for the opening try.

Con threatened the Garryowen line on numerous occasions during the first-half but the final pass and some dogged Garryowen defending conspired to leave Con with just the one try in the opening period. Scott Deasy was also having a poor day in front of the posts kicking wide with two first half penalties. Garryowen made Con pay for their profligacy, when Conor Murray got them off the mark after 26 minutes with a superb penalty from 35 metres on the left. He landed a more difficult one six minutes from the break and they seemed poised for success with Sherry's try and Nagle's dismissal.

But Garryowen never pushed on from there and it was Cork Con who owned the ball after the restart despite their numerical disadvantage. They were rewarded for their patience when they recycled the ball several times before out-half Daragh Lyons spotted an opening before silhouetting past three tacklers and touching down with 12 minutes remaining to reduce the deficit to a point. Scott Deasy added the conversion from just to the left of the posts to put Cork Con into a lead they never lost.

Garryowen manfully tried to mount a fightback but they were out on their feet and Deasy's 80th minute penalty confirmed the result as the Cork side put the demons of last year's shock final defeat to Ballynahinch behind them.

Inaugural winners of this All-Ireland competition in 2006, Con had to fight all their way for this latest cup success, made particularly sweet after winning with 14 men.

Con's tigerish second-half efforts was summed up by AIB man-of-the-match Peter O'Mahony, the former Ireland Under-20 skipper, who covered every blade of grass and was a key figure in Cork Con's final push.

Scorers:
Cork Constitution: Tries: Richie Lane, Daragh Lyons; Con: Scott Deasy;
Pen: Scott Deasy
Garryowen: Try: Mike Sherry; Pens: Conor Murray 2
HT: Cork Constitution 5 Garryowen 11

CORK CONSTITUTION: Scott Deasy; Richie Lane, Tom Gleeson, Evan Ryan (capt); Cronan Healy; Daragh Lyons, Duncan Williams; Martin Gately, Robert Quinn, Stephen Archer, Merle O'Connell, Ian Nagle, Billy Holland, Peter O'Mahony, Frank Cogan.

Replacements used: Brian Hayes for O'Connell, Alex Ryan for Evan Ryan (both 69 mins), David O’Driscoll for Williams (72), Gareth Murray for Gately (80). Not used: Peter Kelleher, Ed Leamy, Brendan Cuttriss.

GARRYOWEN: Ronan O'Mahony; Ian Hanley, Conan Doyle (capt), Kevin Hartigan, Alan Gaughan; Willie Staunton, Conor Murray; Jason Harney, Mike Sherry, Declan Lavery, Frank McKenna, Ed Mackey, Paul Neville, Anthony Kavanagh, David Sherry.

Replacements used: Mark Melbourne for Mackey (64 mins), Conor Hartigan for Kavanagh, Lorcan Bourke for Gaughan, Aaron McCloskey for McKenna (all 69), Rory Brosnan for Harney (74). Not used: Robert Meyer, Cian O’Shea.

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