Liam Hayes was asked whether it was better to have reached an All-Ireland final with Meath before losing to Down and at least have the memory of winning that four-match epic with Dublin, or would have preferred losing to Dublin and getting it over with?.

Being beaten by Dublin would have been far more preferable he maintained, for even that couldn't compensate for losing in the final.

Munster players have a rather more ambiguous view of their one-point defeat to Northampton in the European Cup final less than a year and a half ago.

For the most part, it was better to have travelled to Twickenham and lost than not to have travelled at all. But Keith Wood describes it as both the best of days and also, of course, the worst of days.

After another one-point defeat to Stade Francais in the semi-finals last year, the European Cup has become Munster's Holy Grail. The clichΘ about becoming a victim of one's own success also applies.

Declan Kidney points out that Stade Francais are the only other team in Europe to have reached the knock-out stages for the last three seasons and his assistant Niall O'Donovan cites the recent Celtic League game against Cardiff as an example of the huge expectations of Munster fans.

"Four years ago, a team like Cardiff would have attracted 12,000. What was there last time, five or 6,000? We ran up 50 points against them and everybody said 'oh, Cardiff mustn't be that good'."

Four years ago, though, it's worth recalling that Munster were superb for the one-off scalp against big-name opposition, unbeatable in Thomond Park, but incapable of buying a win away from home.

Incredibly, until the current three-in-a-row interpros, the province had never won back-to-back interpro titles. "It's the same as anything," O'Donovan explains of the transformation. "It all comes down to hard work."

Mick Galwey, a legend in his own playing career, has played in all 36 of Munster's European Cup games to date. "It's a good record to have," he says modestly, jokingly adding: "I've been lucky to stay healthy and avoid injuries during the last six years, and it's important not to be dropped."

He describes it as a long hard road, and, interestingly, cites the defeats before the wins.

One in particular, the 60-19 defeat away to Toulouse in their second campaign, is mentioned. "We genuinely thought we could win. I suppose we were na∩ve. They just came at us at 100 miles an hour on a warm day in the south of France. That was a real eye-opener, both personally and for the team."

Within three years, Munster would be beating Toulouse in the semi-finals of the European Cup on a hot day in Bordeaux. The transformation, Galwey says, was as much mental as anything. "We all got stronger, fitter and faster. The professional thing has helped us, although it took a few years to have an affect. But mostly it was about self-belief, because it was the same group of players really."

Underlining their progress all the way was a home fortress truly the envy of Europe, for Munster have never lost a European Cup match in Thomond Park.

Yet, it took them nine games to scratch an away win. Thus, a significant turning point sounds so silly that Galwey insists beforehand: "To be honest, and you're not going to believe me, but our first away win in Padova was a big step. It meant we qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time."

O'Donovan adds that last year Munster won in Ravenhill for the first time in 20 years, which stresses where the team was coming from. "A major achievement."

Another turning point of note, and Munster's "first major scalp away" according to Galwey, was the memorable 35-34 win away to Saracens at Vicarage Road in the 1999-2000 campaign.

Kidney's renowned attention to detail was best exemplified in the first-team meeting of that week. He entered the room in Thomond Park wearing a fez and operating one of those tee-carriers by remote, not saying anything for a while as the players laughed.

"This is what it you have to expect next Sunday," he warned of the upcoming trip to Vicarage Road where Saracens market their home games with razzmatazz.

Munster launched not one but two comebacks that day, scoring four second-half tries, and their resilience away from home would be further stated by wins in Colomiers, that semi-final in Bordeaux and last season the comeback wins in Castres and Newport.

Yet, when it came to the crunch, in the final against Northampton two seasons ago and the semi-final against Stade Francais in Lille, Munster came up short. A harsh judgement true, given both losses were by the narrowest margin.

Still and all, by their own increasingly high standards, as Galwey concedes, they didn't play as well as they could do on either occasion, and that rankles. "It takes a very good side to win the Heineken Cup, and it takes a lot of effort and a lot of luck to do it."

O'Donovan points out that Northampton and Stade Francais deserved to win those games, but that Munster were unlucky. Fate decreed that a rainstorm descended on Twickenham that May day two seasons ago, while last season's foot-and-mouth epidemic in Britain starved Munster's players of top-flight rugby for 11 weeks.

"That killed us really, and given the base we were coming from the lads did remarkably well to get as close as they did."

Always looking to go the extra yard, the Brains Trust have been at work, signing Rob Henderson (who should be back for the final two pool games) and Jim Williams, as well as bringing back John Langford. The burgeoning Jeremy Staunton and Paul O'Connell give them more impact off the bench now, though a sharper cutting edge would strengthen their finishing.

Two years ago, Munster were, as Galwey says, "a bit of an unknown quantity. Nobody knew how we played and nobody new young fellas like Stringer and O'Gara. We had the element of surprise with us. Now everybody knows what way Munster are going to play, our strengths and our weaknesses."

Spoken like that, it almost sounds as if Galwey concedes that Munster's best chance may have passed them by.

"I definitely don't believe so. We've underachieved a little maybe, we haven't won any major competition. Okay, we've won the interpros a few times and okay we've scored some victories and some moral wins, but we've nothing to show for it. All the lads know there's more potential in the squad."

Another core element of this team's progress has been an innate self-belief which has permeated through the entire team.

It hasn't wilted.

"I do believe Munster will win the Heineken Cup," says Galwey. "I just hope I'll be around for it, that it happens sooner rather than later. Some teams are just meant to win things, like Kerry in the All-Ireland or Kilkenny, they will win another All-Ireland before long."

"Every year, the team is better. We're catching up with the likes of Leicester and Stade Francais. They may have bigger budgets but what we have is special. Our day will come."