To describe this as a laboured Leinster win would be akin to saying Brian O'Driscoll is a little talented. And ultimately, it was a burst of individual brilliance in the 83rd minute by the 20-year-old centre which elevated this game to levels it had scarcely dreamt of, and in the process decided it.
A poor error-strewn, penalty ridden, contest between two sides short on self-confidence had meandered along into the 83rd minute, with Connacht leading 19-17, when Leinster counter-attacked off a deep Eric Elwood drop out for Barry Everitt to set up a rucking target on their 10-metre line. Derek Hegarty moved the ball left to O'Driscoll, with two on two and a bit of space to work with.
He grubber kicked through and sped onto the ball ahead of the deep-lying Connacht full-back Simon Allnutt close to the touchline with little room to manoeuvre, and hacked ahead. Shades of his failed attempt at a match-winner against Ulster when he hacked the ball dead. But he outsprinted Allnutt and the chasing pack, cushioned it over the line and despite being tugged back, dived for glory.
Patience having worn thin, a reduced Donnybrook crowd of about 3,000 would have questioned their investment once more, but O'Driscoll alone is worth the admission money, and so was this try.
Wise and grumpy old sages insist we should give the kid a bit of slack, and not build him up so much. And then he goes and does something like this!
Leinster's plans had been disrupted in the morning when Shane Horgan failed a fitness test on his ankle, so forestalling the Horgan-O'Driscoll dream ticket yet again. A strikingly slimmed down Gordon D'Arcy came on to the wing, with Peter McKenna switching to outside centre and O'Driscoll moving in to number 12.
Their rhythm was further upset when Girvan Dempsey departed with a broken collarbone following Mervyn Murphy's follow-up hit on an Eric Elwood skier, and in the ensuing reshuffle only the halves and John McWeeney were playing in the positions they had started.
Elwood cancelled out Dempsey's opening penalty as the fullback trudged up the sideline and when Matt Mostyn intercepted Everitt's pass on the Connacht 22, he eventually linked up with Elwood and Murphy for Mel Deane to complete the breakaway try.
However, apart from one enforced off-the-cuff dummy inside the 22 by Elwood and a break by Deane, Connacht gradually slipped into a defensive mode as Elwood inched them further ahead to 13-3.
By comparison, the cheeky D'Arcy, with willing accomplices in O'Driscoll and the pacey McKenna, were far more willing to counter-attack than the visitors.
Trevor Brennan put in some big hits and won some good restarts, and with Malcolm O'Kelly noticeably more prominent the force was generally with Leinster. Noentheless, whether through lack of presentation or Connacht's spoiling, Leinster couldn't set up quick and consistent ruck ball.
Allnutt made try-saving tackles on McKenna and D'Arcy, and Martyn Steffert on Hegarty, and even though Everitt landed only two from four penalties eventually they had to get in front. Opting for a close-in line-out off a penalty, Shane Byrne was driven over from O'Kelly's take.
Suddenly Connacht came out of their shells again, taking the game into third and fourth phase. Mervyn Murphy had one great dart and after the halves' exchanged penalties, Mostyn cleverly set up the platform for their lead penalty two minutes from time.
Bertie Smith's call for collapsing against the Leinster front-row looked dodgy in the extreme, and Everitt was wide with a drop goal attempt, whereupon O'Driscoll saved Leinster from an eighth successive loss by inflicting Connacht with an eight successive defeat in Dublin. In saving the game for Leinster, he may have saved their season.
Scoring sequence: 3 mins - Dempsey pen 3-0; 8 mins - Elwood pen 3-3; 11 mins - Deane try, Elwood con 3-10; 24 mins Elwood pen 3-13; 34 mins - Everitt pen 6-13; 45 mins - Everitt pen 9-13; 51 mins - Byrne try 14-13; 68 mins - Elwood pen 14-16; 71 mins - Everitt pen 17-16; 78 mins - Elwood pen 1719; 83 mins - O'Driscoll try 22-19.
Leinster: G Dempsey; G D'Arcy, P McKenna, B O'Driscoll, J McWeeney; B Everitt, D Hegarty; R Corrigan, S Byrne (capt), A McKeen, R Casey, M O'Kelly, T Brennan, V Costello, L Toland. Replacements: G Gannon for Dempsey (9 mins), D O'Brien for Brennan (45 mins), M McHugh for Gannon (79 mins).
Connacht: S Allnutt; M Mostyn, M Murphy, M Deane, P Duignan; E Elwood (capt), C McGuinness; J Maher, S McDonald, M Cahill, G Webster, M McConnell, M Steffert, B Gavin, E Brennan. Replacements: S McIvor for McGuinness (42 mins), J McVeigh for McDonald (66 mins), S McEntee for Brennan (80 mins).
Referee: B Smith (Munster).
Four weeks before Ireland's opening game against America, Girvan Dempsey's World Cup hopes were jeopardised last night when he broke his collarbone. Irish manager Donal Lenihan said: "We'll just have to get medical advice and see what they say."
