Munster anxious to avoid heartache of inter-provincial defeat hat-trick

IT may not be Rome in October, but Munster’s hurlers are intent on making up for recent heartaches when they take on Connacht in the M Donnelly Inter-provincial final in Pearse Park tomorrow.

Two years ago, the southern men were zeroing in on a third successive title and a 44th in total when Henry Shefflin fired over a last-minute point to grab the garlands.

Last year, with a trip to the Italian capital on offer for the finalists, Munster had another dose of medicine to swallow. What the southern province are keen to avoid now is a very different three-in-a-row to the one King Henry denied them in 2002.