JAMES Shannon is a doubt for Ireland's Intercontinental Cup match with a back injury sustained during the Northern Knights' inter-provincial championship game with Leinster Lightning at College Park.

Shannon, the Instonians batsman, was pulled out of the game by Ireland physio Kieran O'Reilly and he will be kept under observation for 48 hours. It also rules him out of tomorrow's Ulster Bank Challenge Cup quarter final against Lurgan at Shaw's Bridge.

His absence threatened to lead to a two-day finish in the inter-pro. As it is, the strong Lightning squad need only one wicket this morning, while the Knights, who were forced to follow on 241 runs behind, need their last pair of Zac Rushe and Phil Eaglestone to score another 37 to avoid the innings defeat.

Blameless in the Knights downfall was CIYMS opener Chris Dougherty who carried his bat throughout the first innings and brought his match aggregate to 129 before he was finally out after six and a half hours of defiance.

But that the next best score of the day was 32 from Greg Thompson, in a stand of 75 which was almost twice as many as the next best, tells the grim story.