Munster ... 42 Ulster ... 10: A post-turkey stuffing wasn't forecast in the Christmas crackers, but helped on their way by the 11th- minute dismissal of prop Justin Fitzpatrick, Munster inflicted on Ulster their heaviest defeat in the 62 meetings between these provinces. Gerry Thornley reports from Thomond Park.
And so Munster will contest their fourth major final in under four seasons when meeting either Neath or Cardiff in the Celtic League decider at the Millennium Stadium - scene of last season's European Cup heartbreaker - on February 1st.
The merit of the performance, and much of Munster's supremacy individually and collectively, will be undermined by Ulster's numerical weakness for 70 or so minutes, yet there was an irresistible quality to much of Munster's performance which suggested that Fitzpatrick's red card merely affected the scale of the win.
Munster's huge tackling and eager work-rate in defence was matched by the speed with which they cleared the ball at the breakdown. Combined with Peter Stringer's rapid-fire delivery, it scarcely gave Ulster time to catch their breath.
Despite the best efforts of the experienced Ulster second-row duo of Gary Longwell and Jeremy Davidson, Munster's second-row tyros Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan had a field night, and the Munster back row compiled a huge yardage haul even by their standards. Outside them, O'Gara and Holland probed tellingly and the quality of some of their five tries was undeniable.
Everything was set fair, a magnificent red skyline behind the distant hills on a crisp, chilly yet still night ideal for rugby - all the more so with a 12,000 full house. But it was virtually ruined as a spectacle with Fitzpatrick's early dismissal.
To put it in context, there'd been a rip-roaring, full-blooded start. Surprisingly, from a good take by Jeremy Staunton in the game's first play, Ronan O'Gara kicked to the line rather than the dark skies. In any event, a David Humphreys pass to Matt Sexton came with a red cross on it and, to huge roars, the hooker was engulfed.
When the ensuing first scrum went down, Ulster were penalised - however dubiously - and O'Gara opened the scoring. From the third scrum, the opposing hookers, as well as Marcus Horan and Robbie Kempson, broke up with fists blazing. Referee Hugh Watkins clearly issued a warning to both captains about the consequences of further fisticuffs, so maybe Humphreys didn't get the message across to Fitzpatrick - or it didn't penetrate.
Stringer, who'd already stunned Ulster by sniping at the back of the lineout, went again off a ruck but ran into a team-mate. Ironically, O'Callaghan seemed to provoke the fateful incident by overzealously clearing out an opponent in front of the ball. But after the whistle, Fitzpatrick twice laid right-handed punches on Anthony Foley for no apparent reason.
Fitzpatrick saw red while O'Callaghan was sinbinned.
While O'Gara was making it 6-0 with the resultant penalty, Munster assistant coach Brian Hickey was reading the riot act to O'Callaghan. Although Hugh Watkins did his best to redress the numerical imbalance thereafter with two more Munster binnings, and Humphreys reduced it to 6-3 amid a spate of penalties to Ulster, there was anger and frustration in the way he lashed a 25-metre penalty wide, and he also kicked out on the full, missed a drop goal and left a restart short.
Meantime, Munster - who were beginning to recycle the ball far too quickly for Ulster to regroup - effectively extinguished Ulster's remote hopes with a double whammy inside three minutes before the half-hour mark. O'Gara, probing and attacking the gain line as he does, hit John Hayes with a hard and fast cut-out pass for the prop to straighten through Humphreys and Kempson, carrying them over the line with Sheldon Coulter as company for good measure.
Next, an extraordinary 40-metre gallop by O'Connell, whose ferocious rucking at the first two breakdowns had been a statement of intent, put Ulster on the back foot once more. Long passes by Stringer and Holland gave Quinlan the room to find Foley, the flanker then taking the return pass to score.
To compound Ulster's sense of foreboding, O'Gara tagged on a second touchline conversion from the right, and then kicked a penalty. A period of conservation was broken by Staunton when he countered a Bryn Cunningham kick downfield, Stringer quick-wittedly feeding Kelly as the Ulster blindside defence went missing. Kelly, with three men in support, had only Coulter to brush aside in running it from half-way for a 28-3 interval lead.
Ulster, with Doak upping the ante, gave it their best shot in the third quarter, running kickable penalties as Frankie Sheahan was sinbinned for killing ruck ball and Stringer became involved in a string of bust-ups.
But Munster held firm, O'Gara's boot brought them downfield and when Hayes dragged Doak about like a rag doll and when Simon Best allowed a high ball to bounce and was pulled into touch by the chasing Lawlor to increase the volume level, you knew what would happen next.
Sure enough, Stringer and O'Gara gave Holland the width to probe the advancing white line off turnover ruck ball on the 22, and the pace, timing, line of running, hands and balance Mike Mullins displayed in taking the one-handed offload inside to score was simply stunning.
A ridiculous sinbinning of Quinlan followed, for a marginal offside at worst, and Humphreys earned a modicum of consolation with a try off endless Ulster penalties and recycling.
But Munster had the final say when Mike Prendergast's skip-pass helped Mick Galwey round things off. Who writes his scripts anyway?
