Ailing if not quite crippled, Irish rugby can discard its metaphorical crutches this weekend with recuperative visits to more local matters. Shannon constitute that novelty in Irish rugby, a genuine success story (okay, if only against their own), and their visit to Garryowen tomorrow should make for prescribed viewing in front of a 5,000-plus crowd. This is where the heartbeat of the game throbs.

In truth, Limerick rugby folk feel alienated and disaffected by the make-up and performances of the Irish team. They have little presence in the team, the exiled Keith Wood and Richard Wallace were their only representatives last week, and accordingly feel that the Irish team has little of that intangible Limerick factor.

There should be plenty of that at Dooradoyle, in what may be like a step back in time. But therein may lie the rub, as what's good for gander may not be good for the goose. International rugby has long since gone a different, ball in hand route and Brian Ashton, correctly, is trying to take the Irish team with it. If this latest Limerick derby follows the path of so many before it - think of the 3-3 opening weekend draw at Dooradoyle between Garryowen and Young Munster - then in truth it will be of limited value on the bigger picture.

Nor have Garryowen-Shannon games been of particularly memorable vintage, a point Philip Danaher readily admits. He cannot even recall his last one as a player two seasons ago, "obviously it was a cracker" he jokes. His first one as a coach last season may have been tight and fiercely contested in timehonoured fashion, but it was littered with basic errors and almost devoid of quality. The first half was almost too bad to be true.

Eventually, in time-honoured fashion as well, Shannon won it by a point. Garryowen owe them one. "We owe them a few actually," Danaher points out, for Garryowen haven't beaten the champions in the All-Ireland League since 1992. That said, as Danaher points out, "form goes out the window in one of these Limerick derbies."

Garryowen appear to have hit a richer vein of form lately, five successive wins propelling them up the table after they followed that opening draw with Young Munster by losing to Dolphin. Key men who were relegated to the periphery of the Irish squad or even the Munster team for the early part of the season have gradually hit form.

It's interesting to note that while Stephen McIvor leads the way with four tries, there's a whole batch of players with three apiece, namely: Killian Keane, Conor Kilroy, Dominic Crotty and David Wallace. This suggests they have a wider array of potential match-winners than most.

"We've worked hard a trying to get guys into position, and we haven't been forward orientated and we haven't been back orientated. We play it the way the guys see it."

Closer examination of Garryowen's recent upsurge though, shows that since the Munsters' draw they haven't played any club from the top half. With games against Cork Constitution and St Mary's to follow, tomorrow's contest is something of a litmus test for this developing team.

As for this season, Danaher says: "Now we're starting to run into the traditionally stronger clubs and by the end of this game we should know a lot more about ourselves."

Shannon are still very much the standard bearers. Ask Danaher how he rates the current team, and he simply says "the same as ever - they've got a great patience and confidence to them. You look at someone like Jim Galvin who can orchestrate a match-winning drop goal or a try, and he's been doing that for 10 years. They've got confident guys in the right areas to make the right decisions."

A continuation of the recent dry snap could increase the likelihood of tomorrow's game being a more open and positive affair. "If the weather lends itself to being a good day, then I think we could see a better game of rugby than we normally get on these occasions.

"We've got several proven try scorers and they've got their backrow, Rhys Ellison and John Lacey. Both sets of players have tremendous respect for each other. They'd like to prove something and I'm sure they'd rather do that by scoring tries rather than by scoring penalties," Danaher said.