Ulster coach Dan McFarland was unsure about John Cooney kicking late penalty against Connacht

When John Cooney kicked a 72nd-penalty to put Ulster 22-8 up at the Sportsground, his head coach Dan McFarland felt it was the wrong call.

But by the time the final whistle had sounded, it's safe to say his opinion had changed.

Cooney's penalty proved the difference as Ulster clung on for a nervy 22-20 win, with Jack Carty missing an injury-time conversion to snatch an undeserved draw for Connacht.

Ulster, who had looked in control following two Tom Stewart tries after the interval, suffered a late collapse as Connacht replacements Jarrad Butler and Adam Byrne touched down.

"That would be standard Connacht, wouldn’t it?" said McFarland, a former player and coach with the province.

"How many times have teams come here and eked out a lead, but are hanging on desperately at the end? More often that not, they end up winning.

"At the time I didn’t want us to kick for goal to go to 22 points. I thought our maul was going well enough to get a try and then we could put it to bed for real. But you never know.

"Who made the call? The players, as they would normally. I tend to try and not interfere with that."

Despite the late drama, McFarland was pleased with his side’s performance as they snapped a three-game losing skid.

Ulster had just a Rob Lyttle try to show for their first-half efforts and their 5-3 lead at the break was an unsatisfactory one, but Stewart scored twice after the restart from driving lineouts to take his tally for the season to seven.

Ulster should have kicked on from there and claimed a try bonus point, but instead they found themselves hanging on at the death.

"There were large portions of tonight’s game where we played really well, particularly in that third quarter when playing into the wind, we started to pile on