If anyone is interested. I just about made the 9.30pm flight and was rebooked into business for a $200 rebooking fee, which is more than fair, especially when I was contemplating having to buy a new ticket in economy for $700. I was very relieved.

I was not the only person from my Denver flight who had missed the 6 25pm Aer Lingus flight and I was not the only one who had booked separate tickets. Interestingly the people who had both flights on a single United ticket were told to go back to terminal B to rebook with United. That meant they had no chance of flying to Ireland tonight, although I guess they avoided the $200 fee. I wonder if some people would have preferred to pay the fee and make the flight.

I have learned my lesson and will never book separate tickets anymore with only 5 hours to make the connection. I'm used to Europe where distances are a little less and delays of greater than 4 hours are rare but with US weather it seems I was pretty stupid to book separate tickets esp when connecting through Denver in Dec.