Munster winger Simon Zebo tries to hide his disappointment

For Munster, the Heineken Cup was always a source of emotional extremes, heartbreak or ecstasy and rarely anything in between.

During its life-span, few sets of fans gave as much and got as much from the first pan-European club rugby competition.

And that was how it ended.

The fabled 16th Man, made up of thousands of Munster fans basking in Mediterranean sunshine, gave their almost customary springtime economic stimulus to the French hospitality sector.

In return, they took away pride and passion, but no prize.

The fans left scattered around the Stade Velodrome long after the final whistle were left to wonder why, for one last time, they could not get reacquainted with Cardiff in mid-May rather than suffer yet another semi-final defeat in France in late April.

Before the game the fans brought life to the streets of Marseille and, during it, their ‘Fields of Athenry’ rallying cry battled with the local anthems for superiority.

Outnumbered by the similarly clad Toulon supporters, the provincial choir had always thrived on being the underdog.

Like the team they followed, they thrived fighting up the hill rather than down.

Fittingly, the provinces’s final foray onto French soil in the competition ended with yet another brave but narrow defeat, this time to the defending champions.

Toulon’s Red Mercenaries squeezed home advantage to claim what Thomond’s Red Army earned through hard graft in the last 15 years.

After the on-field hostilities, many of the host crowd took to Twitter to pay respects to those who made the journey. One Toulon follower said she could not remember supporters bringing such force to a game.

And the locals also enjoyed the respect the Munster team afforded them after the final whistle.

Back home, pubs and sitting rooms shared in the agony and the cruel denial of an opportunity to squeeze one last memory from the competition.

Tom McGurk was in the RTÉ box during the early years of the competition before the rights were bought by Sky Sports. “Finally the end of the magnificent Munster Heineken sojourn,” he said. “Thanks, guys, for the unforgettable memories.”