All-Ireland League: With no other games on Saturday, the Lansdowne Road back pitch was a who's who of All-Ireland League coaches. Brent Pope of St Mary's was there to see how his fellow relegation strugglers would cope with a Blackrock team who have not been enjoying the best of luck recently.
Provincial coach Gary Ella was also there to watch the wealth of talent in both backlines. But maybe he wanted to see Leinster's video analyst back in action as, per usual, Emmet Farrell gave a commanding display.
The game wasn't, however, exactly the free-flowing contest required for individual talent to shine. Not for the first time this season, Blackrock found themselves in a dogfight, but for the first time they managed to sneak out of a close contest with a win.
They left it oh so late. A try from captain Rory Rogers a minute into injury time made it 8-8 but Conor Kilroy still had a tricky conversion to drag his club clear of the relegation zone. His strike was on the money.
The contest had a panic-stricken feel to it, which happens when two sides are on prolonged losing streaks. Blackrock were facing a fourth successive defeat but it was Lansdowne who are now six games without a win, an unwanted club record.
The poor opening half yielded a single penalty, from Shane Whelan, although Blackrock can feel aggrieved to have been denied the opening try after Farrell bypassed his centres to send John Hearty clear. Fiachra Baynes caught him; from the recycle Andrew O'Neill appeared to touch down but referee Dermot Moloney disagreed.
Moments after Kilroy levelled matters with a 56th-minute penalty both sides lost a second-row forward when David Gannon and Stephen O'Connor were sent to the bin after an altercation in Blackrock's 22.
This galvanised Lansdowne into their best period. What looked as if it would be the decisive try came with 13 minutes left when Rock coughed up possession at a scrum deep in their own territory. Young outhalf Andy Tallon gathered and transferred to Whelan on the short side, who supplied Karl Becker. The winger's pace saw him race over out wide. Whelan failed to convert.
Blackrock's experience from the Shannon and Cork Con defeats now surely came into play. Their forwards took up the gauntlet and after a number of surges through a crumbling Lansdowne defence, Moloney was perfectly positioned to award Rogers the try.
Any chance of a late reply went when Lansdowne were penalised for dissent, leaving Rock with a penalty from the restart.
The jinx on Leinster's outhalf position - Felipe Contepomi is still ineligible and Christian Warner injured - means Matt Leek will not be available for Lansdowne for at least another month. They need him. They also need a dose of good fortune.
Scoring sequence: 13 mins: S Whelan pen, 3-0. 56: C Kilroy pen, 3-3. 67: K Becker try, 8-3. 81: R Rogers try, 8-8. C Kilroy con, 8-10.
LANSDOWNE: B O'Mahony; F Baynes, P Morehan, G Stafford, K Becker; A Tallon, S Whelan; E Bohan, R Fallon, K Cleere, S O'Connor, B Cusack, J O'Donovan, N Ronan, S Rooney. Replacements: G Quinn for Cusack (54 mins).
BLACKROCK: C Kilroy; K Copeland, A O'Neill, P Graham, J Hearty; E Farrell, P Byrne; A McSweeney, G McEvoy, I McLaughlin, D Gannon, V Ryan, R Rogers, T O'Donoghue, D Dillon. Replacements: D O'Sullivan for Byrne, B Baxter for O'Donoghue (55 mins), G Fitzgerald for McLaughlin (59), P Drew for Copeland (75).
Referee: D Moloney (MRA).
