Donal Lenihan: How did Leinster find themsleves hanging on for dear life against Northampton?

The fact that Leinster needed a crucial turnover to avoid such a shock outcome is something that will exercise the minds of Leo Cullen and Jacques Nienaber as they prepare for Toulouse

Leinster’s Caelan Doris and Jack Conan celebrate at the final whistle

A brilliant occasion not quite matched by the quality of fare on offer in a game that could, so easily, have ended in disaster for the hosts Leinster.

Croke Park has witnessed many a late pilfer over the years, not least when Offaly substitute Seamus Darby ended the greatest of all Kerry teams quest for a first ever historic five All Ireland football titles in a row back in 1982 with a dramatic and somewhat controversial goal that killed the Kingdom’s dream of immortality.