Ulster win high-scoring interprovincial cup final on penalties

Connacht 4-15 (31) Ulster 2-23 (31) - (Ulster win 2-1 on penalties)

A rollercoaster interprovincial series final ended with Down's Odhran Murdock kicking a dramatic winner at the end of a chaotic penalty shoot-out to secure the title for Ulster.

The result was largely irrelevant given that the tournament once known as the Railway Cup, and which Ulster have now won 33 times, was revived merely to road test the Football Review Committee's suite of trial rules, or 'rules enhancements'.

But both provinces certainly battled like there was something significant on the line, even if it was only bragging rights in the end.

Rian O'Neill was terrific for Ulster in regular time, kicking six scores but tallying 0-08 given that two of those points were long-range ones from beyond the 40m arc.

It was also the All-Ireland winning Armagh forward that supplied the long delivery in for Murdock to flick home a goal late in normal time which, at that stage, left Ulster two points ahead.

But Galway's Johnny Heaney then struck his second two-pointer within a matter of minutes to tie up the game at 2-23 (31) to 4-15 (31), ensuring penalties would be required to separate the teams.

The shoot-out was a memorable one, if low on quality, with a dozen penalties taken between the two teams and only three converted; Murdock twice for Ulster and one from Connacht's Enda Smith.

Matthew Tierney scored two of Connacht's four goals in normal time with Enda Smith and Diarmuid Murtagh striking the others for the westerners.

Connacht grabbed half of their four goals in normal time early on, giving them a vital cushion that sustained them throughout an entertaining first-half.

Tierney and Smith converted their two goals for Connacht inside the opening five minutes