Celtic League: Connacht 14 Edinburgh 14: Connacht produced a determined second half comeback to force a draw with Edinburgh for the second successive year at the Galway Sportsground.

Edinburgh dominated the opening half but Connacht stormed back after the interval. Two penalties from outhalf Tim Donnelly had them level by the 69th minute and the game was on a knife-edge for the final 10 minutes.

Connacht had two drop goal efforts which failed to hit the target while Edinburgh's David Blair saw a late effort drift wide.

Edinburgh's two tries came during that opening half while Connacht's second half pressure perhaps merited more than Donnelly's two penalties.

Replacement scrumhalf Conor O'Loughlin, captain Andrew Farley, and Adrian Flavin all made the necessary impact on their introduction after the interval, and with quality ball from the line-out and Connacht in control, particularly at the breakdown, Connacht carved out sufficient scoring chances. In defence none worked harder than replacement centre Darren Yapp, also back from injury, while Ofisa Treviranus and John Muldoon put in some massive hits.

Edinburgh took a 14-3 lead midway through the opening half.

Following an early penalty kick to touch, former Leinster lock Ben Gissing got the touch down from the maul after seven minutes. Outhalf David Blair added the conversion. Connacht opened their account with a 12th minute penalty from Donnelly.

Yet Edinburgh looked the sharper in that first half and they went close twice before Scottish hooker Ross Ford broke and centre Nick de Lucca scored their second try in the corner after 27 minutes. But a Connacht try from prop Robbie Morris heralded the start of resilient Connacht's comeback.

CONNACHT: G Duffy; O Treviranus, M Deane, A Wynne, K Matthews; T Donnelly, C McPhillips; B Wilkinson, J Fogarty, R Morris; M Swift, D Gannon; R Ofisa, J O'Connor, J Muldoon. Replacements: McCarthy for Ofisa (30 mins) D Yapp for Deane (34 mins), Farley for Swift (45 mins), A Flavin for Fogarty and O'Loughlin for McPhillips (51 mins).

EDINBURGH: H Southwell; A Turnbull, B Cairns, N de Lucca, S Webster; D Blair, M Blair; G Kerr, R Ford, C Smith; C Hamilton, B Gissing; A Hogg, (cpt), R Rennie, S Cross. Replacements: A Allori for Kerr (half time), M Mustchin for Hamilton (65 mins), Meyer for Blair (70 mins), R Reid for Hogg (78 mins).

Referee: Hugh Watkins(Wales).