Edinburgh 21 Ulster 27: Ireland international David Humphreys was the Ulster hero as the province deservedly triumphed in the inaugural Celtic Cup Final at Murrayfield.
Ulster were forced to endure a late rally by Edinburgh but the Irish World Cup out-half snuffed them out when it mattered most.
Ulster had stunned their opponents with a whirlwind start and there was no way back for Todd Blackadder's men after they surrendered 21 points without reply before the break.
Edinburgh's first setback came before they had barely touched the ball, Humphreys slotting an angled 35 metre penalty.
Centre Marcus Di Rollo squeezed through a half-gap before Brendan Laney volleyed his loose pass into the danger zone.
Wallace skidded as he tried to plunge on the ball just a couple of paces from his own line, and could only knock it back into the path of Laney - who hacked it across the line.
The Ulster fans heaved a huge sigh of relief as alert scrum-half Neil Doak scuttled back to get the first crucial touch marginally ahead of Laney.
Edinburgh remained camped deep inside enemy territory, but they found the Irish defence in tremendous form.
Laney and Craig Joiner were blocked out in quick succession - then Ulster re-established control.
Humphreys calmly clipped over his second penalty from closer range when the Edinburgh scrum had been pressured into buckling and rising too early.
Then he added the extra points from a tricky position after flanker Neil Best bagged the vital opening touchdown.
The mounting frustrations of the capital team were underlined when Paterson's penalty attempt on the half-hour mark crashed to the turf from the bottom of the crossbar.
And to make matters more desperate, Humphreys stepped up a minute later to complete his treble from virtually the same distance.
Even worse was to come for the shellshocked home support as Ulster created another try almost immediately - thanks to the all-round footballing skills of Humphreys.
He dribbled a loose ball forward from halfway to set up a line-out in the Edinburgh 22-area.
They secured clean lineout possession and embarked on an unstoppable rolling maul which enabled lock Rowan Frost to plough over.
But then the picture changed dramatically in the space of two minutes - with Derrick Lee in the spotlight to make amends for his earlier slip.
First, he broke free from a Shane Stewart challenge to send a teasing chip across the try-line. And Simon Webster dashed in to claim the score.
Then he used his guile and persistence to shake off the attentions of three markers to wriggle over in virtually the same spot as Webster stood by as support runner outside him.
Paterson banged over both conversions to set up a dramatic finale.
Humphreys eased the Ulster jitters with another penalty - only for Mike Blair to snatch a stoppage time try for the Gunners, goaled by Paterson.
But, fittingly, Humphreys had the last word with penalty number five from dead in front.