Hooker Pat Humphries took everyone by surprise late on when he burst through the defence from 15 metres out to give front-row colleague John Giltenan the easiest of tries. That try under the post put the icing on the cake for Garryowen. DLSP gave it their all and held the Limerick side to a one point difference by half-time.

DLSP looked the better in early open play and managed two tries through Jason Critchley at centre and a second from Jacques Deen, both within the first 15 minutes. But Garryowen's outhalf Billy Treacy kept his team in touch with penalties and scored 22 of his team's total.

Scoring sequence: 2 mins: B Treacy pen 0-2; 4 mins: J Critchley try 5-3; 9 mins: B Treacy pen 5-6; 13 mins: B Treacy 5-9; 16 mins: J Deen try 10-9; 23 mins: K Keane try 10-14; 25 mins: Critchley pen 13-14; 45 mins: McCabe pen 16-14; 46 mins: Treacy drop goal 16-17; 58 mins: K O'Riordan try Treacy con 16-24; 65 mins: S Broughton pen 19-24; 75 mins: Treacy pen 19-27; 79 mins: J Giltenan try, Treacy con 19-34.

DE LA SALLE: S Gormley; E McDevitt, J Critchley, D McCabe, M Vironeau; S Broughton, M Cross; C Condron, A Davies, D Masters, P McDonnell, R Candlin, A Toher, A Keery, J Deen. Replacements: E Moore for Condron, B Hogan for Gormley, S Tynan for Deen.

GARRYOWEN: K Keane; K O'Riordan, C Foley, R Niland, C Richardson; S McCarthy, B Treacy; J Giltenan, P Humphries, R Laffan, E Kelly, J O'Sullivan, C Varley, C Hartigan, P Malone. Replacements: J Staunton for Foley.

Referee: P Eakin (Ulster Branch).