IT wasn't supposed to end like this.

The brass band, the try cards, the palpable sense of anticipation - everything at Edgeley Park had been set up for a triumphant final day.

But Sharks failed to turn up to their own party.

A 17-7 defeat to London Irish destroyed the celebratory atmosphere among Sharks fans and brought an outcome that had been unthinkable after the previous week's stunning victory at Harlequins - failure to qualify for the Guinness Premiership play-offs.

Just as Sale's defining performance had come against Quins, so did Leicester's. The Tigers' 31-28 final day win against the men from The Stoop allowed them to snatch the final play-off place from right under Sharks' noses.

But, in truth, they didn't deserve their spot in the Premiership semi-finals anyway. Looking tired and jaded, Philippe Saint-Andre's players seemed to have their minds on the holiday season rather than the postseason.

Now they have a long wait to put things right next season.

Sharks had started the game with real fire in their bellies, threatening to run riot as they made continual forays into the opposition 22.

But that flame quickly fizzled out and it was the visitors who far more like the team with genuine title ambitions.

Sale spurned an early opportunity when a bungled scrum in front of the posts ended in a missed drop goal attempt from Charlie Hodgson and that was about as close as they got in the first half.

The visitors defended with focus and ferocity before lashing out to ruthlessly punish basic errors.

With ball in hand, Sale were too often naive and over-eager - a fact woefully encapsulated by the mistake that led to Irish's first try 21 minutes in.

Richard Wigglesworth seemed to be completely unaware of the danger close at hand when he floated a pass out left, only to see the ball nestle comfortably in the arms of Topsy Ojo, who raced 60 metres to score. Eoghan Hickey added the conversion.

Just three minutes later it got a whole lot worse for Sharks.

Another attack broke down just outside the opposition 22 and they were swiftly torn apart by the pace and purpose of the Exiles' backs.

Peter Hewat made the intial burst and offloaded to Sailosi Tagicakibau, who blazed down the left flank and evaded the clutches of Charlie Hodgson before sending in Seilala Mapusua.

At 12-0 down, Sale looked utterly lost.

Although Hodgson's kicking often brought territorial gains, their inept lineout was completely unable to build on that platform.

They were little better with ball in hand - basic errors hindering their ability to string together a meaningful sequence passes and a lack of ideas preventing them from making any clean breaks.

Hickey could have given the scoreline an even more depressing feel had he held his nerve with a penalty attempt five minutes before the break but he was off-target, as was Luke McAlister when he tried to respond on the stroke of half time.

Even in the second half things didn't get any better.

An initial burst from Sharks saw Hodgson come close to creating a try after a wonderfully delicate chip and chase, only for the move to falter after another misplaced pass.

The England fly half was also denied a promising break by the touch judge when the pass he received from Ben Foden was judged to have been forward. It was a dubious call at best.

As time began to run out, Sale became more desperate and so did the Exiles' defending.

They played much of the final half an hour right on the edge, especially in terms of the offences they committed but it was a brand of brinkmanship that paid off spectacularly.

Even when the inevitable happened and players were sent to the sin-bin, Richard Thorpe and Bob Casey receiving yellow cards within six minutes of each other, the green wall held firm.

Irish even piled on the misery two minutes from time, when they countered with purpose and Mapusua outpaced the defence to score in the left corner.

A shred of dignity was only salvaged with the last move of the game, Chris Bell adding the finishing touch to a decent move and McAlister converting to at least get Sharks on the scoreboard.