Frantic endgame sees Ulster take title after penalty shoot-out win over Connacht

To think the Football Review Committee gave strong consideration in recent weeks to getting rid of penalty shoot-outs.
The revived interprovincial series, previously known as the Railway Cup and which Ulster have now won 33 times, came to a riotous end at Croke Park on Saturday night with Odhrán Murdock converting the winning penalty.
It was one of just three penalties converted from a dozen taken as Kieran Donnelly’s side eventually emerged victorious.
Truth be told, many will still feel that penalty shoot-outs should be gotten rid of and the FRC did toy with the idea of replacing them with ‘overtime showdowns’ before apparently rejecting that idea.
Saturday night’s result was supposed to be largely irrelevant given that the interprovincial series was only revived to road test the FRC’s ‘rules enhancements’. But both sides fought tooth and nail for the bragging rights with Murdock earlier flicking home a 59th-minute goal that put Ulster two points ahead at that stage.
The value of a goal was underlined on several occasions throughout the evening with Connacht scoring four of them across the hour. Matthew Tierney grabbed two, Diarmuid Murtagh scored one and Enda Smith got the other.
For a long while, it seemed as if those valuable goals would sustain Connacht despite being outplayed by Ulster for stretches.
Then Murdock popped up with that second goal for Ulster, leaving them two points clear with only seconds remaining. In fact, the hooter was just about to sound when Galway’s Johnny Heaney hoisted over his second long-range score, worth two points as it was kicked from outside the new 40-metre arc, and we were swept along to penalties at 2-23 (31) to 4-15 (31).
The quality was low in the shoot-out but the drama was off the charts, even if Croke Park was as good as empty with supporters clearly preferring to assess the new rules through the prism of live TV coverage with accompanying expert analysis.
Overall, it will go down as a good night for the FRC’s ‘enhancements’. Both sets of players looked hungrier for action and if Friday night’s semi-finals came across as challenge games, these were altogether more full blooded contests.
Rian O’Neill’s kicking – he scored 0-8, including two long-range two-pointers – was a joy and he and Armagh will certainly benefit if the two-point rule comes in for 2025. His Orchard colleague Aidan Forker screwed over the score of the game from the outside of his left boot early in the second half, yielding two points also.
Neither side went after the revised advanced mark, while the tap-and-go still has to be refined. But for the fun factor alone of Saturday evening’s fare, it’s worth sticking with what the FRC have presented.
*Scoring key (4pt goal-2pt score-1pt score)
ULSTER: N Morgan; D Baker, P Burns, P Faulkner; D Guinness, A Forker (0-3; 0-1-1), E McEvoy; N Grimley (0-3), C Kilpatrick (0-2); D O Baoill, R O’Neill (0-8; 0-2-4), C Thompson; O Murdock (1-0), O Conaty, D McCurry (0-5, 2f). Interchange subs: J McElroy, M Bradley (0-1), S McNally, O O’Neill, N Toner, G Smith, B McBennett, A Clarke, E McElholm, R McQuillan (1-0), P Havern, M Jordan, P McGrane, R McCaffrey, K McGeary (0-1).
CONNACHT: C Gleeson (0-2; 0-1-0); J McGrath, B Stack, S Mulkerrin; C McDaid, J Daly, E McLaughlin; J Carney (0-1), J Maher; M Tierney (2-1), B McNulty, E Smith (1-1); D Murtagh (1-2; 1-0-2), A O’Shea (0-1), P Towey. Interchange subs: D Rooney, P Towey, S Brosnan, S Rafter, J Grace, B Tuohy, D Cregg, C Carroll, R Fallon, M Diffley, J Heaney (0-5; 0-2-1), S Cunnane, U Harney, C Cox, D Smith (0-1, 1f), C Murtagh (0-1), D Duffy, F Boland, P Spillane, A McLoughlin.
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
Leinster, showing considerable improvement from their first match on Friday, made a strong start against Munster in Saturday evening’s Shield final at Croke Park. A first-quarter lead of 1-7 to nil – the goal scored by Dublin’s John Small – gave them the early initiative, which although threatened, was never lost.
As they did in their own semi-final, Munster recovered to make a contest of the match. Again, they were driven by Kerry’s Killian Spillane, who displayed phenomenal marksmanship until fatigue set in at the end. His couple of two-pointers helped make up a haul of 0-9.
A goal from Cork’s Chris Óg Jones in the third quarter reignited the match but having reduced the deficit to a point in the final quarter, Munster couldn’t maintain the push and late points from Mark Barry, Ronan Wallace and Dan Healy gave Leinster a four-point win.
LEINSTER: S Cluxton (Dublin); E Porter (Wexford), D Keoghan (Meath), E Murchan (Dublin; 0-0-1, 1); R Wallace (Westmeath; 0-0-1, 1), B Howard (Dublin), J Small (Dublin; 1-0-0, 4); R Connellan (Westmeath; 0-0-1, 1), J McCarthy (Dublin; capt.); C Byrne (Louth; 0-0-2, 2), C Kilkenny (Dublin; 0-0-2, 1f, 2), S Bugler (Dublin); P Small (Dublin; 0-0-3), K Feely (Kildare; 0-0-4, 1m, 1f, 4), C Downey (Louth; 0-0-1, 1). Interchange: M Bambrick (Carlow), M Barry (0-0-1, 1), P Cunningham (Offaly), R Dunphy (Carlow), D Flynn (Kildare; 0-0-1,1), D Gallagher (Longford; 0-0-1, 1), D Healy (Wicklow; 0-0-1, 1), R Houlihan (Kildare), K Roche (Laois), R Jones (Meath), P Kingston (Laois), C Lennon (Louth), E O’Carroll (Laois), L Pearson (Offaly), K Quinn (Wicklow).
MUNSTER: J Ryan (Limerick); M Shanley (Cork), J Feehan (Tipperary), D Burke (Kerry); D Cashman (Cork), T Morley (Kerry), M Taylor (Cork); S Walsh (Waterford), C O’Callaghan (Cork); I Maguire (Cork; 0-0-1, 1), E Cleary (Clare), E McMahon (Clare; 0-0-1, 1); J Naughton (Limerick), C Óg Jones (Cork; 1-0-2, 6), K Spillane (Kerry; 0-2f-5 1f, 9). Interchange: C Kelly (Cork), S Meehan (Cork), S O’Dea (Limerick), C Walsh (Waterford), T Walsh (Cork), A Sweeney (Clare), D Ryan (Waterford), M Stokes (Tipperary), C Ó Currín (Waterford), D O’Connor (Kerry), B McNamara (Clare; 0-1-0, 2), P Walsh (Cork), A Griffin (Clare), D Neville (Limerick), D Brennan (Tipperary), D O’Sullivan (Kerry).
Referee: Conor Lane (Cork).