When it was all over, Clontarf coach Alex Wyllie put his own spin on an afternoon which the had the home fans storming the bar. "Really the difference this time was that we played for the full 80 minutes," he explained.
You could see where the coach was coming from. With just five minutes left and the home side two points behind, the Clontarf pack picked up the pace and the forwards were rolling off the big drives by Craig Brownlie.
Just outside their own 22, Garryowen looked like getting relief when they won a vital scrum. Replacement scrumhalf Shane Whelan, who took over from injured Tom Tierney in the 25th minute, fired a wild pass over Killian Keane's head, the ball was loose and Pat Ward pounced for the touch down.
Richie Murphy landed the conversion and Castle Avenue was awash with joy.
At the end of a foot-loose league run, even the stern Wyllie could smile. "It is never nice when you are looking up from the bottom of the table," he grinned. "At half time we were in trouble. They were leading 12-6 and they had the wind in the second half. We did well up front and this time we had more weight in the front row. "
Behind the scrum the coach was vindicated by the performance of scrumhalf Ronan O'Reilly. After all, Wyllie had raised eyebrows by dropping Leinster inter-pro Stu Foster and opening the door for the talented stand-in.
Garryowen coach John Hall will be still wondering how this game got away. At 12-6 and the elements favouring his side, it looked easy.
In the first half a converted try by Dominic Crotty and a Keane conversion gave them their points, while Murphy kicked two home penalties.
O'Reilly's try, converted by Murphy put Clontarf a single point ahead at the start of the second half, but a penalty by Keane put the Limerick side back in front, until that dramatic match-winning try by Ward.
After that, Clontarf had only one worry - had they stocked up enough drink in the bar?
Scoring sequence: 5 mins - Murphy pen; 3-0; 11 mins: Crotty try, Keane con; 3-7; 21 mins: Murphy pen; 6-7; 35 mins: Staunton try 6-12; 45 mins: O'Reilly try, Murphy con; 13-12; 50 mins: Keane pen; 13-15; 75 mins: Ward try, Murphy con; 20-15.
Clontarf: O Winchester; D Rossi, C Bewley, G McElligott, A Reddan; R Murphy, R O'Reilly; W O'Kelly, D Hyland, T Kearns; C Power, D Moore; P Ward, C Brownlie, D Walsh. Replacements: D Kenneally for Hyland, 29 mins.
Garryowen: D Crotty; P McDonagh, J Staunton, K Hartigan, K O'Riordan; K Keane, T Tierney; C Botha, P Humphries, R Laffan; S Leahy, D Peters, P Hogan, P Neville, D Wallace. Replace- ments: A Bermingham for Hogan, 24 mins; S Whelan for T Tierney, 25 mins; R Leahy for Peters, 64 mins.
Referee: D Courtney (Leinster Branch)
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