Connacht’s taste for hard work pays off as 45-year wait ends

Connacht 2-19 Ulster 1-07

A crowd of only about 600 turned up at Tuam Stadium and while there was a lot of open football, there was also an edge to proceedings and neither side pulled out of the exchanges.

In the end, the groundwork done by Connacht against the wind in the opening half, when they restricted Ulster to a lead of two points, proved decisive and they cut loose in the second half to outscore the champions by 2-13 to 0-2.