The victory was no less nail-biting for the good-sized Donnybrook crowd than the one in Northampton a fortnight ago, although to be truthful there was nothing like the same flair in the Irish performance. One thing remains constant though - Declan Kidney's Midas touch.

This was the coach's fourth injury-time win of the season, Tyrone Howe's 81st minute try crowning an exciting finale, and at a stroke ensuring that the Ireland A side has won twice as many matches as last season. Through the pick and go drives of the Irish pack, and the general tackling throughout the team, Ireland enjoyed territorial supremacy for large tracts of the second-half although in some respects it was a slightly fortuitous victory.

In fairness, they showed that bit more desire, most notably when making light of Marcus Horan's sin-binning midway through the second-half to turn a 16-12 deficit into an 18-16 lead.

It was a night for the grafters, with the likes of Paul Wallace and Shane Byrne rolling up their sleeves, particularly in the second half. And Dion O'Cuinneagain finally broke free at the death to provide the touch of class that was the difference between losing and winning.

Perhaps because Ireland had selected a less youthful and developmental team, the night lacked the effervescence of the win against England; the Ireland back play was comparatively deep and lateral and not as much of a threat on the gain line. There were a lot of solid performances in the Irish backs, with Dominic Crotty, Howe and John Kelly impressing, but the half backs did not have the same decisiveness and wristiness of hand.

But, in mitigation, perhaps the biggest difference was the grass-less pudding of a pitch - the legacy of the heavy schools' programme - as opposed to the smooth Franklins Gardens' surface. Also, whereas the English were adventurous the Scots were typically effective spoilers at the breakdown and the referee was comparatively pedantic as well.

The Scotland backs generally looked more threatening and more able to explode through a gap, and the Scots also outscored the home side by two tries to one. However, in contrast to Eric Elwood's haul of six penalties from six attempts, his counterpart, Chris Paterson missed three eminently kickable penalties in the first period alone.

Settling quickly into their rucking groove, and offloading in the tackle for the close-in support runners, Scotland enabled Paterson to open the scoring. For Ireland, Howe initiated a strong defensive performance by drifting Craig Joiner in the tackle. The reward was the first of three penalties by Elwood as the Irish pack gained control for a while, before Paterson landed his second penalty.

Ireland ran scrum ball from inside their own 22 wide to Howe, Byrne's pick and go yielded a turnover as Scotland appeared to come in from the side, and from the recyle Derrick Lee broke Mel Deane's tackle to score. Elwood's fourth penalty made it 12-13 at the break, but while Ireland upped their aggression in the third quarter, Scotland extended their lead through a Lee penalty.

Despite Horan being sin-binned for dissent after he was penalised for clearing a route for Tom Tierney, Elwood rewarded the pack's efforts with two penalties to put Ireland into the lead. However, Scotland had another try when Alan Bulloch sent Steve Brothersone away 40 metres out.

Ireland inched their way up-field from an Eric Miller take on their own line, as Deane chased down Tierney's clever blind-side grubber. Moving into the 81st minute, with the referee signalling an advantage, O'Cuinneagain took David Wallace's fine pass to accelerate through a gap; he drew the tackle and timed his offload perfectly for Howe to score in the corner.

IRELAND A: D Crotty (Garryowen); S Coulter (Belfast Harlequins), J Kelly (Cork Constitution), M Deane (Buccaneers), T Howe (Dungannon); E Elwood (Galwegians), T Tierney (Garryowen); M Horan (Shannon), S Byrne (Blackrock College), P Wallace (Saracens), P Johns (Dungannon, capt), L Cullen (Blackrock College), E Miller (Terenure College), D Wallace (Garryowen), D O'Cuinneagain (Ballymena). Replacements: M Cahill (Buccaneers) for D Wallace (64-68 mins),

Scotland A: D Lee; C Joiner; D Officer, J Stuart, A Bulloch; C Paterson, G Beveridge; P Johnstone, S Brotherstone, G McIlwham, S Campbell, A Lucking, C Mather, D Mackinnon, S Holmes. Replacements: B Stewart for McIlwham (66 mins); McIlwham for Johnstone (68 mins); C Hogg for Holmes (11-22 mins) and for Mackinnon (72 mins).

Referee: J-C Gastou (France).