When Diarmuid Connolly sat back into the pocket, setting himself up for power fade with the outside of his right boot, in a similar way to Ronan O’Gara and the Grand Slam drop goal over a decade ago, I thought perhaps the story was written in the stars for the prodigal son to return home with the fattened calf.

Dublin will be rightly hailed as one of the truly great sides and are in the middle of writing a very special history for themselves, writes Mike Quirke.