Munster honour Paul O’Connell with classic Thomond theatre

Munster 21 Ospreys 18: Paul O’Connell has spent the last few months, in public at least, ruminating over the right way to retire from professional sport and has been at pains to point out that not every athlete is fortunate to bow out from their sport in the manner of their choosing.

Saturday’s exit from Thomond Park, then, will have been as good as the 35-year-old could have hoped for from a last hurrah at his hometown stadium and on a pitch he has graced for 14 seasons.

The hug he gave fellow second row Donnacha Ryan after Nigel Owens first disallowed what would have been a match-winning Ospreys try and then blew the full-time whistle on a remarkable, pulsating Guinness Pro12 semi-final suggested this narrow victory was as meaningful as any that had preceded it during his time at this famous stadium.