Hockey:There were not many at Grange Road yesterday who thought that Leinster could hit Munster for five goals and snatch the Regiment Cup from under the noses of Ulster, who must have believed they had this year's championship in the bag.
But that's exactly how the senior interprovincial tournament unfolded as Leinster cruised to a crushing 5-0 victory in their final match to snatch the competition on goal difference.
Having drawn with Ulster 3-3 in the first day's play, Leinster then had a day's rest before meeting Munster at lunch time yesterday.
But on Saturday Ulster had run in five goals against Munster, with Simon Todd and Keith Black each getting two and Colin Donaldson adding one in reply to one from Philip Smith.
That 5-1 win seemed to set the bar too high for Leinster, who needed to win their final game by more than four goals to deny Ulster holding on to the title they won last year.
But the strike power of the home side rattled one of the weaker Munster sides for some years, and Pembroke's Alan Sothern once again rose to the challenge of finding the net.
Sothern grabbed a hat-trick in the rout, with the other two goals coming from Three Rock Rovers' Mitch Darling.
The only goal of the first half came from Sothern in the 14th minute, and as half-time approached it looked as though Leinster had left themselves too much of a second-half demand.
But quickly after the restart Sothern added a second from a short corner.
Although Munster defended well, Leinster then hit a wonderfully rewarding three-minute spell, which allowed them to crack in the three goals needed to secure the title.
Darling set up a tap in for Sothern coming up to the hour, and within seconds Sothern had secured his hat-rick.
Darling added the crucial fifth goal in the 61st minute.
It was a fitting end for those two players, both of whom have carved out names for themselves in recent years as goal-scorers, as they had been on the mark against Ulster on Friday evening in the 3-3 draw.
Sothern netted two in that match to make him the top scorer of the competition with five goals, while Darling's one strike there gave him a very satisfactory three goals over the two games.
Leinster last won the competition in 2001.
SENIOR INTERPROVINCIAL TOURNAMENT
(at Grange Road)
Friday: Leinster 3 (A Sothern 2, M Darling) Ulster 3 (M Irwin 2, K Black).
Saturday: Ulster 5 (S Todd 2, K Black 2, C Davidson) Munster 1 (P Smith).
Sunday: Leinster 5 (A Sothern 3, M Darling 2), Munster 0.
Final standings: 1 Leinster; 2 Ulster; 3 Munster.
