Garryowen smitten in St Valentine's Day mugging

They invited 200 women up to Dooradoyle for lunch to celebrate St Valentine's Day and it was Garryowen who left with a Lansdowne arrow through the heart.

To the visitors' credit they fought a ragged game of turnovers, knock-ons and kicks that only rarely threatened to find touch, then perked up at the end for a furious five-minute siege which landed the only try of the match and handed them the game.

The post-game autopsy was refreshingly pointed from both coaches. Former Bath and England player John Hall, savagely pulling on a cigarette, pointed the finger at referee Alan Lewis for a disallowed try in the closing minutes.

"Shane Leahy went over the line. He is adamant he scored. What looked like a pretty good try to me was disallowed. I'm a bit puzzled as to why it was disallowed," said the Garryowen coach.

Lansdowne's Mick Cosgrave, appropriately enough for the day's theme, singled out big heart as the deciding factor in his side's victory.

"We didn't play well in the first half but by Jesus we stuck to it in the second. We had to dig deep today because we were not actually playing that well. But we kept at it, kept at it with sheer determination.

"It's the first time I've said to the lads that we've shown the character to turn around when we're not playing well and win a match. We haven't shown that before."

Save the match-winning try from fullback Gordon D'Arcy those incidents encapsulated the pivotal moments of this kicking contest between Garryowen captain Killian Keane (15 points) and Lansdowne's Rory Kearns (12), the victory putting the Dublin side two points clear at the top of Division One.

Another win in Lansdowne's remaining games should copper-fasten their involvement in the play-offs, although right wing Marcus Dillon could be out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. From there it is simply jockeying for home advantage in the next stage of the competition.

For Garryowen, blind side David Wallace punched through in the loose most effectively with Jeremy Staunton showing enough flashes of maturity and ball handling at out-half to keep eyes firmly fixed on his progress.

Similarly, the Lansdowne teenager D'Arcy made his contribution. Shaking off two fumbles in the first half, his timed run into a well controlled Shane Horgan pass to score against a stretched Garryowen defence with six minutes remaining rescued the day.

In hindsight D'Arcy may never have had the opportunity for glory. As Garryowen pressed in the second half leading 15-12, Killian Keane, having already landed five from six, opted to kick to touch on the hour rather than take a six-point lead. His decision, perhaps the wrong one, was a measure of growing Garryowen confidence.

It was from there Lansdowne burgled the points. After the lineout, three scrums, fierce defending and a disputed try the ball was finally cleared following a Garryowen offside.

In a complete turnaround Lansdowne then went on the offensive and in their best phase of the match held possession, recycled the ball half a dozen times with Reggie Corrigan, Colin McEntee and Kurt McQuilkin each taking turns at shipping the tackles. Finally the effort pulled the Garryowen defence wide enough on the right to let D'Arcy splash into the other corner.

It was six minutes from time and Lansdowne had taken the lead for the first time in the game. Both Keane and Staunton launched failed drop goal efforts for Garryowen in the desperate closing stages.

"Good sides win games when the pressure comes on," said the satisfied Cosgrave.

"If you are asking me if he should have kicked the penalty (at the end), yes he should have," said Hall, the smoke leaving his mouth in streams of sharp thin arrows.

A big day at Dooradoyle but no lovers at the end of it all.

Scoring sequence: 7 mins: K Keane pen, 30; 14: R Kearns pen, 3-3; 23: K Keane pen, 6-3; 30: K Keane pen, 9-3; 40: K Keane pen, 12-3. 44: R Kearns pen, 12-6; 48: R Kearns pen, 12-9; 51: K Keane pen, 15-9; 53: R Kearns pen, 1512; 74: G D'Arcy try, 15-17.

Garryowen: D Crotty; M McNamara, K Hartigan, K Keane, K O'Riordan; J Staunton, T Tierney; N Hartigan, P Humphries, R Laffan, R Leahy, S Leahy, P Hogan, D Wallace, B Cronin. Replacements: C Varley for Cronin (half-time), C Kilroy for McNamara (50 mins).

Lansdowne: G D'Arcy; M Dillon, S Horgan, K McQuilkin, R Kearns; B Everitt, D O'Mahony; R Corrigan, O Ennis, A McKeen, G Fulcher, S O'Connor, L Toland, S McEntee, C McEntee. Replacements: B Glennon for Dillon (69 mins).

Referee: A Lewis (Leinster).