Australia was leading 20-13 and Ireland winger Tommy Bowe had just had a second try ruled out when O'Driscoll made up for the error that gave Australia its opening score, darting over unchallenged under the posts.
Ronan O'Gara converted to tie the scores and end the match level with Australia's Matt Giteau on 10 points.
“It's a game we cruised and probably should have won," Australia coach Robbie Deans said. “That Ireland was still within seven points was the crucial element. We had the opportunity to get beyond that.
“You leave the door ajar, then they've got the personnel to come back and save their skins."
With Australia having beaten England 18-9 last weekend, victory over Ireland would have left just Scotland and Wales standing between the tourists and a Grand Slam of wins over the so-called Home Nations teams.
“As much as we didn't want to talk about it, it's a very big occasion,” said Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom, who seemed to have scored the winning try when he touched down in the corner midway through the second half. “They don't come round very often and it's disappointing that we didn't notch up the win there."
O'Driscoll's most notable contribution on his 100th international appearance until scoring had been the third-minute handling error that led to the first of Australia's two tries.
He fumbled a pass by O'Gara to give Drew Mitchell a simple chance to run in unchallenged and touch down for his 18th international try. Giteau landed a simple conversion but O'Gara reduced the deficit with two penalties before Giteau made it 10-6 at halftime.
Ireland tied the scores at 13-13 in the 56th minute when Bowe touched down for a converted try but Elsom, who played in Dublin for Leinster last year, looked to have earned his team victory when he charged in at the left hand corner.
An Australia victory appeared inevitable when referee Jonathan Kaplan refused to award Bowe his second try with three minutes left because he was not sure the wing had grounded the ball.
But the Ireland players kept their nerve and, from a five-metre scrum, Jamie Heaslip fed the ball to Tomas O'Leary, who set up O'Driscoll to go over.
“We tried a lot of things and not everything stuck," O'Driscoll said. “Plenty didn't but if you don't try things, you don't learn about yourselves. It's difficult to click perfectly when you haven't played together for six months.
“It was a smart play we practiced a hell of a lot over the past year. In the Six Nations, we didn't have a chance to do it. It was great that it did open up the space."
While the last-place side in this year's southern hemisphere Tri-Nations was disappointed not to have handed Ireland a first loss of 2009, the home team takes some positives from a game despite an over-reliance on kicking and untidy scrummaging.
Debut-making prop Cian Healy was strong throughout and charged down an early sliced kick by Giteau to put the Wallabies under pressure. He then set up Bowe's try with a remarkable break worthy of fleet-footed center O'Driscoll.
Healy made about 20 metres, breaking one tackle and dancing through another to take play to within sight of the line, where the forwards probed and prodded until Bowe gathered a spun pass to just make it over with a tackler on his back.
And Bowe could easily have tied the scores again when he darted between the centres and got over the line.
The Wallabies could also have scored more, producing quicker ball than last week and repeatedly crossing the gain line by switching play with passes to the support runner on the inside shoulder.
Giteau ducked between two players in the 28th and looked to be closing on the line for a second try but Rob Kearney recovered to bring him down just short and Australia gave away a penalty to relieve the pressure on Ireland.
The Wallabies forwards continue to develop and at one point put in a huge push to drive Ireland off their own ball at the scrum.
The pressure led to Kaplan eventually penalising Ireland for bringing down a subsequent scrum to give Giteau the kick that put Australia 13-6 ahead.
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