Inst Director of Rugby Clem Boyd's delight as Shaw's Bridge club book place in Bateman Cup final

The win means Instonians will face Leinster Senior Cup Champions Lansdowne in the decider on the first weekend in January with the chance to lift the trophy for the first time in 97 years.

Mark Keane’s late try in Limerick settled the game after Garryowen rallied from 17-5 down to lead by two points going into the last 10 minutes.

Boyd said: “It just shows once again the character of this team and the group of individuals. A difficult fixture away at a difficult time of the year in the league programme and for one reason or another Paul Pritchard on his own coaching and doing a great job.

“He has to be applauded for that as he has come through a few difficult weeks. We had about eight or nine players unavailable from the last few All Ireland League games and the guys that have come in have done a fantastic job and it just shows the character of this team.”

Instonians have had to beat Ballynahinch, City of Armagh, Queen’s and Garryowen to reach the final and now they are relishing a crack at Lansdowne, who they beat 16-8 to lift the trophy in 1927.

“It’s just another game of rugby and it goes back to the character of the team – they have an invaluable spirit and when they put their mind towards something they are great bunch of guys and all credit to them, but we have Cashel in two weeks and that is all we are looking at,” added Boyd.

After a cagey opening in Limerick it was Inst that struck first.

From a lineout steal the Belfast side worked the ball wide quickly and full back Bradley McNamara went over for the game’s first try.

Garryowen responded immediately with flanker Des Fitzgerald finishing off a well worked team move to level the scores.

Inst regained the lead with a try from David Whitten.

The visitors were awarded a penalty after some good phase play resulted in Garryowen infringing with a high tackle. Inst kicked to the corner and from the resulting driving maul Whitten peeled off to dot down.

Josh Eagleson’s conversion gave Inst a 12-5 half-time lead.

Inst used the maul to good effect after the result with hooker Neil Saulters going over for an unconverted try.

With both starting props, Liam Kaprigiannis and Oli Clarke, in the sin bin, Inst conceded a penalty try from a scrum.

Garryowen took the lead with another penalty try that earned Inst centre Bevan Prinsloo a yellow card for tackling the man without the ball.

Trailing by two points, the Belfast side had to withstand a lot of pressure but with Prinsloo out of the bin they scored the winning try.

The move started in Inst’s own half as they build the phases and winger Keane went over in the corner, with Eagleson landing the conversion from a tight angle.

It was a nerve jangling final few minutes for Inst as Garryowen forced four penalties in their 22 but a huge defensive effort from the Shaw’s Bridge club closed the game out.