Munster left it late again before snatching a 23-13 win over 14 man Clermont Auvergne on Saturday at Thomond Park as captain Paul O'Connell admitted they came perilously close to a Heineken Cup exit.

Late tries from Marcus Horan and Niall Ronan eventually swung the nail biting game in favor of the Reds as out-half Ronan O'Gara topped the 1000 points mark in the tournament.

"That's probably the closest we've come to going out," admitted O'Connell.

"Clermont are an excellent side. I thought they played excellently today and excellently last week. Maybe we let them play a little bit but they're a very good side.

"We're very happy to get out of there with a win. We knew they'd come out strong like they last week. They've some fabulous players but they also play with a lot of heart as well.

"You could see that today. They've a bit of both, very similar to ourselves. They play a very good game and they play with heart.

"We'd no doubt about today and how tough it was going to be. I wish it wouldn't have been as tight as that but we're delighted to get the win."

The French side were reduced to 14 men and O'Connell was sin-binned after a first half altercation with Canadian lock Jamie Cudmore.

"I saw him (Cudmore) going for Jerry Flannery on the ground, so I went to grab him, and pull him off Jerry," said O'Connell.

"I think he had three punches in on me before I knew it. That's it, but we've kissed and made up already!

"These things happen. They're a team that play with a lot of heart and passion and these things will happen in rugby matches.

"I've a lot of respect for them, the way they played today and the way they played in the last few weeks and I'm looking forward to their performance against Sale."

In other results, Leinster will have to beat Wasps at Twickenham next month to maintain their push for the quarterfinals of the Heineken Cup after a disappointing 18-15 defeat away to Castres in France on Friday night.

Coach Michael Cheika admitted, "It's a shame the winning run is at an end but now we cannot afford to have another loss, so the Wasps game at Twickenham is a straight shoot-out. It's a final almost.

"We've got to take charge the next time the Heineken Cup comes around...get better and more solid in the pressure moments.

"We've got to get back to the level we showed in the first two rounds in Europe, and make sure by the time that we get to that Wasps game we're in a really competitive state because that's a really important match now."

Sports Shorts

GOLF: Mount Juliet officials have confirmed that their course will not host the Irish Open next May, with Royal Dublin now the favorite to act as venue for the tournament which has been saved by a new sponsorship deal with the mobile phone company 3 . . .

RUGBY: England internationals Nick Kennedy, Topsy Ojo and Paul Hodgson have all agreed new three-year contracts that will keep them at London Irish until the end of the 2011-12 season . . .

SHOWJUMPING: Irish showjumper Jessica Kurten has lost her appeal against a two-month ban after failing a doping test to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport . . .

GOLF: Padraig Harrington has become only the third golfer in over a century to retain the British Golf Writers Player of the Year award . . .

GOLF: Ulster's Rory McIlroy is still in line for a place in next April's Masters at Augusta after retaining his place in the world top 50.

Loughnane Won't Return

Ger Loughnane has ruled out returning to management after his removal from the Galway job and has criticized the manner of his departure after just two years in charge.

Loughnane said, "There was huge neglect there for years and years. The great eras of the eighties and nineties, when the Clares and the Limericks and all the other counties developed their pitches, Galway did absolutely nothing.

"I loved the two years I was there and I'd have loved another two years in it. I think in two more years we'd have really changed it around."

GAA Shorts

Kerry star and asthma sufferer Aidan O'Mahony will have his hearing into a failed drugs test heard by the GAA this week.

Kerry chairman Jerome Conway told the Irish Examiner, "We're looking forward to having everything thrashed out, and I have every confidence that Aidan O'Mahony will be cleared of any misdemeanor." . . .

The Cork County Board has established a new six man committee in a bid to resolve the ongoing row between coach Gerald McCarthy and the senior hurling squad. McCarthy, meanwhile, has appointed former Ireland rugby team fitness coach Mike McGurn to his backroom team . . .

Ross Glavin has been recalled to the Kildare senior football squad by manager Kieran McGeeney, who has also called up Mark O'Sullivan, Shane McCormack, Mick Kenny, Eoin O'Toole, Robert Kenny, Paul Cornish and Philip Hennessy . . .

The Ulster Council are to investigate ugly scenes at halftime in the provincial club final replay last Sunday as Crossmaglen defeated Ballinderry at Brewster Park . . .

Wicklow duo James Stafford and Derek Daly have opted off Mick O'Dwyer's squad for the immediate future after emigrating to Australia in search of work . . .

Tipperary's County Board have voted in favor of a motion allowing their football and hurling managers to appoint their own captains from 2010 onwards . . .

Sean Boylan has been re-appointed as Irish manager for the 2009 series of Compromise Rules games when Australia will visit Ireland next autumn . . .

Dan Shanahan and Tony Browne look certain to remain on the Waterford hurling squad next season according to manager Davy Fitzgerald . . .

Kerry star Tommy Walsh has reportedly been offered a professional contract by the Melbourne based Aussie Rules side St. Kilda . . .

Galway senior football manager Liam Sammon will also act as manager of the county's under-21 squad next year . . .

The Inter-Provincial series is to continue in 2009 despite a lack of interest in the old Railway Cup competitions . . .

Derry Gowen has succeeded the late Con Murphy as the Cork County Board president . . .

Barney Allen has been re-elected as chairman of the Meath County Board.