Ben Best's dramatic final putt brings agony for Connacht

A dramatic 45 foot birdie putt on the 18th green at Fota Island last evening by Ulster’s Ben Best foiled Connacht of a famous victory on the second day of the Interprovincial Championship. The match ended 5½ points apiece, leaving Leinster, who defeated Munster 8-3, the favourites to retain the title when they take on Ulster in today’s decider.

Connacht were pipped by a single point by Leinster on Monday and their luck was out once again on this occasion. They did extremely well to share the morning foursomes and maintained the pressure on the much more fancied northern outfit with wins at number one for debutant Jack McDonnell over Dermot McElroy and for Ronan Mullarney over Stuart Bleakley to offset Ulster gains by Colin Fairweather and John Ross Galbraith over Mark Morrissey and Sean Flanagan.

Another Connacht new cap, Cathal Nolan, halved his clash with Gareth Lappin but one sensed that it wouldn’t be Connacht’s day when Shaun Carter hit the green at the great par five 18th with two cracking shots only to miss the three foot birdie putt and let Irish champion Tiarnan McLarnan off with a half. Then came Best’s unlikely heroics on the 18th thereby leaving Connacht and Joe Lyons (the sole survivor of their last championship win in 2011) to settle for a share of the spoils.