There was a genuine quality to the post-match celebrations in Clones yesterday as Ulster confounded most predictions to relieve Leinster of the Railway Cup football title. After obtaining almost freehold rights on the competition earlier this decade, the northerners, under the tutelage of Brian McEniff and Art McRory for the 16th year, had come to this year's final the hard way.
For a start, the team was composed of relative neophytes. In the days of the six-in-a-row, Ulster largely picked itself but yesterday only three players starting the match had lined out for the province's last success in 1995.
Second, in what is surely a unique achievement, Ulster took three matches to extra-time on their way to ultimate triumph. It was widely accepted that the two semi-final meetings with Connacht helped mould the team and develop both nerve and stamina. All three of the matches have seen them come good at the end and tap into productive point-scoring sequences which have lifted them to narrow but authoritative wins.
There was high excitement amongst the home-dominated crowd of 4,702 as Ulster built their secondhalf comeback, particularly when Leinster looked to have staved off disaster - as they did with a late Tommy Dowd goal in the semi-final against Munster - by regaining the lead in the last minute through a cleverly snapped-up Kevin O'Brien point.
In injury-time Paul McGrane the big Armagh wing forward - not the most obviously threatening forward in such an urgent situation - kicked a glorious equaliser and delayed the verdict into extra-time.
For the time of year, this match was a hotly-contested affair. It featured some excellent score-taking, fine goalkeeping (Christy Byrne edging the honours with a spectacular 86th-minute leap across an open goal to deflect Diarmuid Marsden's otherwise net-bound punched effort), some marvellous individual displays and finally the spectacle of a 16-man victory as Ulster never got around to calling ashore the extra man after Bernard Morris took the field for the last 30 seconds.
Ulster showcased some heavyweight names in attack. Tyrone's Peter Canavan gave his best display at representative level for a long time and gradually shook off the excellence of Cathal Daly's defence to pose the sort of problems every defence expected from him two years ago.
His performance benefited from the introduction of Mickey Linden in the second half. Restored after missing the semi-final replay because of Down's National League match in Ennis last week, the veteran corner forward opened up another front for Ulster and Canavan thrived in the space created.
Tony Boyle, star of this year's campaign, went into the match with a back injury but ended up top scorer with 0-6 from frees, a contribution that kept his team ticking over throughout the afternoon. And Dermot McCabe the young Cavan All Star caught fire in the second half and walloped over dead-ball awards from prodigious distances with a succession of points.
As in the semi-final, Matt Kerrigan's men established early dominance and looked sharper than their opponents at either end of the pitch. By the end of the first quarter, it was actually anomalous that Leinster should lead by only two points, so complete was their superiority in both the full-back and full-forward lines.
Having teed themselves up for victory after an accomplished firsthalf display which had them 0-9 to 0-4 ahead, Leinster surrendered the initiative and folded at centrefield where John McDermott and Niall Buckley were unable to cope with Anthony Tohill and substitute Paul Brewster.
Deprived of possession, the holders' attack not surprisingly looked less impressive. Ulster drew confidence from this diffidence and played themselves back into the match.
Goal chances abounded and it was to both goalkeepers' credit that neither conceded a green flag. Canavan had an extra-time penalty pushed over the bar by Byrne and Finbar McConnell saved bravely from Ciaran Whelan as early as the eighth minute.
Chances were also missed; Tohill blew a gift-wrapped ball from Boyle wide at the end of the first half, whereas Leinster substitute Graham Geraghty hit the bar within 24 seconds of extra-time starting. The last of Declan Darcy's four points from play in the 39th minute meant that Leinster had negotiated a third of the second half with their five-point interval lead intact, 0-11 to 0-6. From then on only Kevin O'Brien, with two points, breached the Ulster defence, while Boyle and McCabe did the principal damage at the other end to reel in the holders.
Leinster gave the impression of throwing in the towel at the start of extra-time and suffered irreparable damage by conceding five unanswered points in the first 10 minutes, culminating in Canavan's penalty.
To their credit, they found the response after the break. It took the familiar form of Meath representatives, Tommy Dowd - two points in a minute - and Trevor Giles, whose 79th-minute free cut the deficit to a point, 0-17 to 0-18.
That, however, was as deep as it cut and Gerard Cavlan round off the afternoon with two points to bring the northern province level with Leinster on the roll of honour with 24 titles apiece.
ULSTER: F McConnell (Tyrone); JJ Doherty (Donegal), C Lawn (Tyrone), P Devlin (Tyrone); K McGeeney (Armagh), H Downey (Derry), N Hegarty (Donegal); J Burns (Armagh), A Tohill (Derry); J McGuinness (Donegal), G Cavlan (Tyrone) (0-4, one free, one 45), P McGrane (Armagh) (0-2); D McCabe (Cavan) (0-4, three frees, one sideline), T Boyle (Donegal) (0-6, all frees), P Canavan (Tyrone) (0-3, one penalty). Subs: G Coleman (Derry) (0-1) for Lawn (10 mins); P Brewster (Fermanagh) for Burns (42 mins); M Linden (Down) for McGuinness (52 mins). Extra-time subs: J McGuinness (Donegal) for McGrane (81 mins); D Marsden (Armagh) for Boyle (84 mins); B Morris (Cavan) - no player replaced (91 mins)
LEINSTER: C Byrne (Kildare); C Daly (Offaly), D Fay (Meath), M O'Reilly (Meath); D Lalor (Laois) (0-2), G O'Neill (Louth), F Cullen (Offaly) capt; J McDermott (Meath), N Buckley (Kildare); C Whelan (Dublin) (0-2), B Stynes (Dublin), T Giles (Meath) (0-4, three frees); T Dowd (Meath) (0-2), D Darcy (Dublin) (0-4), K O'Brien (Wicklow) (0-3). Subs: S Grennan (Offaly) for Stynes (47 mins); G Geraghty (Meath) for Whelan (53 mins); P Brady (Offaly) for Darcy (60 mins). Extra-time subs: K Reilly (Louth) for Buckley (69 mins); V Claffey (Offaly) for Grennan (half-time); J Kenny (Offaly) for O'Reilly (half-time).
Referee: N Barrett (Cork).
