February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Mark Jones
DUBLIN — Shannon’s important victory turned out to be Munster’s loss as the All-Ireland rugby league resumed last weekend. The Limerick club might have secured a 25-18 victory over archrivals Young Munster at Clifford Park, but the loss of Alan Quinlan with a broken thumb means that the international wing forward will miss Munster’s European Cup semifinal on April 21.
Quinlan will need an operation to repair the damage and is likely to be out of action for at least six weeks, but Shannon made light of his absence to move up into third place in the Div. I table as both front runners, Cork Constitution and Galwegians were beaten for the first time.
Meanwhile, Cork Con lost surprisingly away to Dungannon, where David Humphreys came out on top in the battle of the boot with Ronan O’Gara to mastermind a 22-16 success.
Also, Galwegians were pipped 9-7 by Lansdowne at Lansdowne Road, and on a day of surprises Ballymena missed their chance to make ground on the leaders when an injury time try by Kevin Barrett and a Robbie Lee conversion saw Buccaneers steal a dramatic 27-26 victory in Athlone.
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