Ulster crowned champions after 10-goal thriller

Ulster needed to draw on all their guile and experience to wrest the senior men’s interprovincial title back from Leinster at Garryduff today, as they claimed a thrilling 5-5 draw with hosts Munster that will live long in the memory. The northerners  needed just a point from their final clash following their smash-and-grab raid on Leinster on Saturday, and weren’t expected to have too much difficulty against Munster, who had been outclassed by the blues on Friday night. But the hosts ensured it almost went to the wire, pulling out a performance laced with pride, passion and no little skill in a game that was the perfect advertisement for the competition. With Leinster unable to win the title on goal difference, they needed Munster to win by two to force a three-way tie. And John Jermyn gave them the best possible start, lashing a drag-flick high to the net on five minutes. When Mark Ruddle produced a great reaction stick-save to thwart Mark Gleghorne, Munster fans could have been forgiven for thinking that the spring sun illuminating Garryduff might be shining on them exclusively.

But Ulster – a province seemingly always blessed with dangerous forwards no matter what state they are in elsewhere – were still determined to rain on the hosts’ parade, despite missing Eugene Magee and Timmy Cockram through injury. Jason Lynch, lining out for his adopted province against old friends from his native Cork, sent a crash ball in from the left on 10 minutes, and Bruce McCandless produced an outrageous piece of skill to drag the ball one-handed around his back towards goal. It cannoned off the upright, but late call-up Chris Cargo was on hand to blast in his second of the tournament. Munster were nonetheless looking just as dangerous on the attack as their visitors, and amazingly produced two goals from play inside 30 seconds to turn the match on its head. Once again the Garryduff surface played its part, with mis-control at the back handing Munster the initiative on both occasions. Nigel Buttimer got a beautiful touch on Conor Harte’s crash ball for the first, before Jermyn’s reverse crept in off Ulster keeper Gareth Lennox to put Stephen Jackson’s side in control at 3-1. Ominously for Munster, Jonny Quigley popped up to tap in Colin Donaldson’s square pass at the back stick to reduce the arrears on 29 minutes, before Ulster skipper Gleghorne blasted through Harte and centred for Peter Caruth to level it at three each a minute before half-time.

But Munster found their stride again on the resumption, and Jonny Bruton, a menace for the Ulster defence all afternoon, was furious with himself for firing wide when in the clear after combining well with Clinton Sweetnam. Ulster were fortunate not to conceded a penalty stroke when a goal-bound David Hobbs shot seemed to be stopped by a defender’s body on the line on 56 minutes. Undeterred, Munster produced a slick corner move with a well-disguised switch left to Harte, who found Hobbs on the near post to slide the ball under Lennox for 4-3 on 56 minutes. But all that good work was undone when Gleghorne was allowed to rocket a drag under Ruddle four minutes later to tie the game up once more. The scene seemed eerily set for Lynch to pop up and score the winner, as the ‘Garvey man’s influence grew in the final quarter, as it had done against Leinster. Instead, he found himself cooling his heels on the sideline when he was binned for two fouls in succession. But Ulster hit the front in his absence, Caruth dinking the ball over the onrushing Ruddle after Quigley had played him in. Quigley soon replaced Lynch in the sin-bin though, and Harte missed a glorious chance to tie it up again when he blasted a reverse over the bar with Lennox grounded. But Jermyn ensured Munster didn’t finish the tournament empty-handed. He rifled a drag-flick into the top corner with 90 seconds to go to complete his hat-trick and give the hosts a share of the spoils, with Ulster taking the Leinster Regiment Trophy by a point. To view and download more than 60 of Eoin Tyrrell’s pictures from this weekend’s men’s and women’s senior interpros, please click here Meanwhille, Cork Church of Ireland’s men kept the flag flying for Munster in the men’s Irish Junior Cup, advancing to the semi-finals thanks to a 3-2 win at Glenanne. A three-goal salvo inside ten minutes from Andy Gray, Roger Gray and Stephen Parker was enough to see them through to the last four, where they will now travel to Cookstown, 7-0 winners over Raphoe in the quarters.