Connacht recorded their first victory over Leinster since 2016 in the Women’s Interprovincial Championship yesterday evening.
Sligo’s Nicole Fowley, who was recently appointed as captain of the side, put in a Player of the Match performance in the one point victory.
Ballinasloe’s Meabh Deely set Connacht on their way inside the opening two minutes with a try.
Leinster piled the pressure on to hit back, and got their rewards on 14 minutes when they crossed over.
As Leinster edged towards the lead five minutes later, Fowley made a great try saving tackle to prevent before she was hauled down with a late tackle on 26 minutes which saw Leinster reduced thanks to a yellow card.
She dually converted the resulting penalty to give her side an 8-5 lead at the break.
In an impressive third quarter, Leinster hit back with a brace of tries which included a conversion.
This put nine between the teams, just after a high tackle from Gweesalia native Clara Barrett reduced Connacht to 14 for ten minutes.
Despite the reduction, Connacht managed to hit back minutes later when Orla Dixon got over the line to bring the Leinster lead back to four points.
Finally, in dramatic circumstances, Deely got her second try in the 80th minute of the game to give Connacht the one point lead that would eventually seal victory.
Full time score from the Sportsground:
Connacht 18 – 17 Leinster
