After a first half barely memorable for penalty exchanges, this turned into a cut-throat climax at Castle Avenue.

A spirited defence of their hard-fought lead in the second half all came crashing for Clontarf in the dying moments. Through an Ollie Winchester try and the regular contribution of Richie Murphy's place kicking, the advantage appeared to be safe. It took a late response from Cork Constitution's full-back Brian Walsh and an even later penalty from Ronan O'Gara to tip their noses in front. Still they were fortunate to come away with the points as Murphy's two efforts for salvation deeper into added time went agonisingly wide.

It leaves Brent Pope's men perilously close to life in a lower division, the outcome of which rests with their final game in a month's time away to Terenure. `We're gutted,` he said. `We've played so well two weeks in a row and once again we've been more or less robbed."

Constitution, meanwhile, can probably regard the one point victory as a turbulent landing to their play-off place. On this occasion they counted mostly on the services of O'Gara's boot as well as some progressive runs by number eight Ultan O'Callaghan and the imaginative creations of scrumhalf Brian O'Meara.

It was Clontarf's try four minutes into the second half that sparked the game to a new level. A succession of efforts to get across the line was finally completed by Ronan O'Reilly's close-range pass to Winchester who had the momentum to drag himself over. Murphy's conversion left them 13-6 in front and from there on Constitution were under constant pressure to stay in the fight.

Despite the unflinching aggression of the home side, a quick penalty run by O'Gara set up a flicking pass from Conor Mahony to the on-coming Walsh and the elusive try was claimed.

Scoring sequence: 1 min: O Gara pen, 0-3; 19: R Murphy pen, 3-3; 22: O Gara pen, 3-6; 38: Murphy pen, 6-6; 44: Winchester try, Murphy con, 13-6; 47: O'Gara pen, 13-9; 70: Murphy pen, 16-9, 74: Walsh try, 16-14; 81: O'Gara pen, 16-17.

CLONTARF: M Woods: P Noble, M Smith, S Fitzsimons, O Winchester; R Murphy, R O'Reilly; H Hurley, B Jackman (capt), T Kearns, D Moore, C Power, D O'Brien, P Ward, C Brownlie. Replacements: R Vorster for Power (78 mins).

CORK CONSTITUTION: B Walsh; A Horgan, Conor Mahony, Cian Mahony, D O'Brien; R O'Gara, B O'Meara; I Murray, F Sheenan, J O'Driscoll, D Sheehan, D O'Callaghan, D Corkery, J Murray, U O'Callaghan.

Referee: B Sterling (Ulster), replaced by N Lynas (68 mins).