Brian McLaughlin's final selection of the season saw two changes from the starters who felled Edinburgh a fortnight ago at Murrayfield, with TJ Anderson wearing No. 6 in the absence of the injured Stephen Ferris, and Ian Humphreys taking over form Niall O'Connor at out-half.

The visitors opened the scoring on three minutes through an Ian Keatley penalty, but a vibrant Ulster were soon making inroads down the left and right flanks with notably strong running from both Andrew Trimble and Simon Danielli. The persistence paid off in the 10^th minute with the award of a penalty right on the 22, which Humphreys looked for all the world to have put away. The kick, however, was adjudged to be off-target, and the score remained Ulster 0 Connacht 3.

Danielli made his presence felt again on the 20-minute mark, this time with an opportunistic try in the left corner. Faced with two Connacht defenders, the Scotsman kicked on, clattered his way through and, with the ball bobbling around behind the try-line, stretched out a long arm to touch down before his opponents. Humphreys failed with the conversion, but his team was ahead at Ulster 5 Connacht 3.

Keen to build upon the lead, Ulster kept piling on the pressure and, when an attempted Connacht clearance ricocheted off an Ulster torso, Humphreys was alert enough to grab the loose ball and dart his way over the line. The out-half converted his own score from in front of the posts, extending the lead to Ulster 12 Connacht 3 with nine minutes of the half remaining.

Keatley had a stab at reducing the deficit with a penalty from inside his own half but, despite his best efforts, the distance proved too great. A minute before half-time, however, Ronan Loughney was on hand to force his way through the Ulster defence and touch down. The Keatley conversion brought Connacht to within two points of Ulster at the close of the half.

Ulster captain Rory Best was taken off minutes after the restart with an injury and his replacement, Andy Kyriacou, wasted no time in making his mark on the match, with a try in the right-hand corner after an incisive break orchestrated by Jamie Smith and Trimble. Humphreys converted to raise the score to Ulster 19 Connacht 10.

As Ulster confidence grew, a smart pass from Humphreys in the middle of the park on 52 minutes carved open enough space for Ian Whitten to exploit. The centre showed speed and stamina to elude the Connacht rearguard over a good 30 metres and dive over the line for an impressive solo try. Humphreys' conversion was again on target, and McLaughlin's men were comfortable at Ulster 26 Connacht 10.

A further Humphreys penalty followed just before the hour mark and, with the game now effectively over as a contest, McLaughlin rang the changes with Isaac Boss, Niall O'Connor, Timoci Nagusa, Neil McComb and Bryan Young all entering the fray. With five minutes remaining, McComb made a telling contribution by supplying the killer assist to Dan Tuohy, who grounded under the posts. O'Connor converted to set the score at Ulster 36 Connacht 10.

And, in the dying seconds, Jamie Smith dived into the corner to cap an excellent team performance with try number six and end this season's Magners League campaign on a high.