Connacht 20
Ulster 22
ULSTER DUG DEEP to end their disastrous December but they almost blew a winning hand when a 14-point lead after 78 minutes was whittled back in the dying moments as Connacht sprung to life in a dramatic finish.
But the remarkable comeback by Connacht came up short when Jack Carty’s difficult conversion from the right swung agonisingly the wrong side of the left post and Ulster survived.
It was a remarkable conclusion to a game which struggled to come to life but the crowd of 6,041 were treated to a brilliant finish full of drama.
Ulster led 5-3 at the end of a scrappy opening half which was largely played in the middle third of the pitch as both sides struggled to build phases.
Ulster had a swirling wind behind them in the opening half which was difficult to utilise, with the Connacht back three capably dealing with anything which came their way from the Ulster half-backs, with Nathan Doak settling into his unfamiliar out-half role.
Ulster, enjoying marginally more possession, eventually hit the front after 28 minutes. A penalty to touch down the left by Doak after Connacht hooker Shane Delahunt was pinged for offside, set up a good platform inside the 22.
The ball was recycled a few times and a with a penalty advantage after Niall Murray was penalised for offside, Ulster worked the ball through the hands and a superb offload by hooker Tom Stewart fed McIlroy and Luke Marshall and when his pass was knocked backwards by Connacht full-back Tiernan O’Halloran, winger Rob Lyttle pounced to score in the left corner. John Cooney’s conversion from the left went across goal and wide.
Connacht hit back and six minutes later Carty cut the gap with a penalty in front of the posts after Stuart McCloskey went offside asd Connacht tried to work the ball across the pitch after a penalty to the right corner by the home skipper and that left it 5-3 to Ulster at the interval.
Ulster took over after the restart and piled on the pressure and while Connacht defended the onslaught initially, the visitors finally found a way through with a penalty to the left corner and then a good maul which hooker Stewart finished. Cooney added the extras to extend the lead to 12-3 after 45 minutes.
Both sides started to empty their benches but the momentum remained with Ulster as they cut down the error count and built opportunities.
Marty Moore was stopped short after another sustained bout of pressure but it was inevitable Ulster would pull further ahead and they did after 54 minutes when their maul again delivered.
Once again it was Stewart who supplied the finish for his seventh try of the season off another lineout, with Cooney converting to make it 17-3.
Connacht got a glimmer of hope going into the final quarter when their own maul made ground after a penalty to the left and scrum-half Caolin Blade sniped superbly to get over. Carty pulled the conversion wide on the near side, leaving Ulster 19-8 ahead before Cooney extended the lead to 22-8 with a penalty eight minutes from time in what proved to be a crucial decision.
Jarrad Butler got a late try after one from Cian Prendergast had been ruled out, with Carty’s conversion in front of the posts salvaging a bonus point at that stage in the final minute after Ulster replacement Greg Jones had been binned.
But there was still time for one more phase and Connacht made it count, pounding the Ulster line before Carty put Adam Byrne over in the right in the 85th minute.
That left two between them and while Carty’s conversion looked to be on target, the wind caught it and much to his and the home crowd’s dismay, it went the wrong side of the left post.
Connacht scorers:
Tries: Blade, Prendergast, Byrne
Con: Carty (1/3)
Pen: Carty
Ulster scorers:
Tries: Stewart (2), Lyttle
Cons: Cooney (2/3)
Pen: Cooney
Connacht: Tiernan O’Halloran (rep: Adam Byrne ’55); John Porch, Tom Farrell, Bundee Aki (rep: David Hawkshaw ’61), Mack Hansen; Jack Carty (CAPT), Caolin Blade (rep: Kieran Marmion ’69); Denis Buckley (rep: Peter Dooley ’53), Shane Delahunt (rep: Dave Heffernan ’49), Finlay Bealham (rep: Dominic Robertson-McCoy ’54-63); Josh Murphy (rep: Jarrad Butler ’49), Niall Murray; Oisín Dowling, Conor Oliver (rep: Shamus Hurley-Langton ’52), Cian Prendergast.
Ulster: Mike Lowry (rep: Stewart Moore ’41); Ethan McIlroy, Luke Marshall (rep: Jake Flannery ’80), Stuart McCloskey, Rob Lyttle; Nathan Doak (rep: Dave Shanahan ’80) , John Cooney; Rory Sutherland (rep: Eric O’Sullivan ’65), Tom Stewart (rep: John Andrew ’80), Marty Moore (rep: Gareth Milasinovich ’52); Alan O’Connor (rep: Sam Carter ’53), Iain Henderson (CAPT); David McCann (rep: Greg Jones ’58), Marcus Rea, Nick Timoney.