With 10 minutes to go Ireland had worked hard to get themselves 18-16 up, until Scotland back-row Jason Hill set off on a run from his own half. You got the feeling he was going to get stopped at some point, but he just kept going and going as the defence parted. He dived over the try line for the score and with the conversion going over it saw Scotland triumph by five points.
Both sides started with good intent and it was Ireland who went close early on. They tackled Scottish winger Scott McLeod in his own territory and forced him to give away a penalty. Moments later their centre Mark Roche, of Lansdowne, went close to the try line, but Scotland defended well.
A penalty by scrumhalf Graham Wilson in the 10th minute put Scotland 3-0 up.
Ten minutes later, with a quarter of the match gone, Ireland got themselves on the scoreboard. After a period of pressure No.8 Jonathan Slattery took a quick tap and went over from five metres out. Stand-off Darragh Lyons converted.
After that Scotland No.8 scored a converted try, but Ireland once again bounced back with eight points of their own before the interval.
After a second Lyons penalty they scored a superb unconverted try by Roche. He went over on the left after a great break by back-row Paul Pritchard and then good handling by hooker Andrew O'Driscoll and captain Matt D'Arcy.
That left them 15-10 up with 40 minutes remaining and in the first half it has been D'Arcy and Roche who had been causing the Scots' defence the most problems while Ballynahinch openside Prichard was showing up well in defence and attack.
A penalty by Wilson just after half-time brought Scotland to within two points, but Ireland fought back and a good run by Ballymena loose forward Stephen Mulholland got them into opposition territory, but the chance was wasted.
The match then entered quite a cagey spell and with 20 minutes remaining it was still 15-13 to the Irish.
Wilson then put a great kick into Ireland's territory and, soon after a lineout and a scrum, Pritchard was penalised on his own '22' metre line. He was yellow carded and Wilson rubbed salt into the wounds by kicking the resultant penalty and the hosts were 16-15 up.
Six minutes later the teams were level at 14 men each when Thomson was sin-binned and Lyons' penalty put Ireland ahead again. Then came the winning try and late on Ireland had replacement Stephen Murphy yellow carded as Scotland held on for the win.
Referee: Rhys Thomas (Wales)