Matchplay can be cruel, but Munster can have no complaints about their 9-4 defeat at the hands of defending champions Ulster in the Golfsure-sponsored Interprovincial Championship at sunny Ballybunion yesterday.
Ulster went about their business with a chilling calm and a display of short-game prowess, especially on the greens, that leaves the host province without a victory after two days of matchplay combat at the Kerry links.
John Moss's Ulster side fashioned a three-point lead after the morning foursomes which they stretched to five with a disciplined display in the singles.
They gleaned five wins and a half from nine singles, and will take the title for the fourth time in five years if they can beat Connacht in the final series today.
Once again their dominance in the foursomes, where the won two-and-half points from the three matches that went to the 18th, proved to be decisive.
Michael Sinclair and Richard Kilpatrick were one up playing the last against Clancy Bowe and Niall Turner and duly clinched a winning half in five when Sinclair drained a 10-footer for bogey after Bowe's par putt had rimmed the cup.
Then Andrew McCormick and Johnny Foster rubbed it in when McCormick holed from six feet for a winning birdie against John Morris and Mark Collins after Foster's approach had kicked down neatly off the sand hill that guards the right side of the green.
In the singles, North of Ireland champion Brian McElhinney maintained his impressive form with a two-hole win over Mervyn Owens, and further wins by Michael McGeady, Andrew McCormick, Foster and Darren Crowe steered them home.
The big surprise was the defeat of Gareth Maybin by 3 and 2 at the hands of Mullingar John Morris, who has made a strong case for a recall to the Irish side for the Home Internationals.
Leinster are still in with a chance of winning the title after getting back into the race with a 10-3 thrashing of Connacht.
Leading 3-1 after the foursomes, debutants Dessie Morgan, Greg Bowden and Alan Dowling all weighed in with comfortable singles victories.
Mark Campbell had five birdies in 13 holes as he beat Mark Staunton by 6 and 5, while former West of Ireland champion Michael McDermott appears to have rediscovered his form on the evidence his 5 and 4 win over Connemara's Derek McNamara.
Birr's Justin Kehoe sent them on their way in the afternoon with an impressive two-hole victory over Irish Close champion Mark O'Sullivan in the top match
One down after 13, the Shinrone native birdied the 14th and 16th to go one up and then went down the shaft on a seven-iron and rifled his approach to four feet at the last for a birdie.
