The champions, who meet UL Bohemians in a mouth-watering Limerick derby next Saturday, beat Dublin University 19-6, after a dour first half (3-3).

Dublin University's Simon Mitchell landed a third-minute penalty, but missed another two efforts, with the backing of the wind, in the opening period.

Shannon fly-half Andrew Thompson squared it up with a tenth-minute penalty before the visitors' second row Padraig O'Brien was sin-binned for hands in the ruck.

Two minutes after the restart, Thompson kicked the champions into a 6-3 lead - one they never surrendered. The league veteran swapped another penalty with Mitchell before Brian Tuohy broke free to send Eoin Cahill over for the game's only try on 72 minutes.

Thompson swung the conversion over and Mossy Lawlor topped off the away win with a 40-metre drop goal in injury-time.