A determined Munster outfit earned their first Interprovincial football success since 1999, following a five-point win over Connacht at O'Moore Park in Portlaoise.
Some of the southern province's lesser lights came to the fore in this game. Waterford duo Tomas and Maurice O'Gorman, along with Limerick attacker Ian Ryan, were amongst the players who powered Munster to victory.
Cork trio Donnacha O'Connor, Daniel Goulding and Nicholas Murphy also made sizeable contributions.
John O'Mahony's Connacht side battled strongly to try to overcome a seven-point interval deficit and just five points separated the sides with eight minutes remaining.
However, Munster finished the contest strongly with team captain Murphy leading by example as his side held out for their 15th interprovincial win.
The O'Gormans were in fine form as Munster burst out of the blocks, dominating the midfield sector where John Galvin and Alan O'Connor played excellently.
Munster were all over Connacht in the opening quarter as Gerard O'Sullivan's men established a 1-04 to 0-00 lead at the end of a dominant spell, with Waterford defender Tomas O'Gorman providing an 11th minute goal.
Munster had some clinical finishing and only registered one wide before the interval.
Early points from Daniel Goulding (0-02) and Ian Ryan ensured a 0-03 to 0-00 lead after ten minutes, before the only goal of the contest was produced from an unlikely source, from the resulting kick-out.
Deise defender O'Gorman burst up-field from his half-back berth and sliced through the heart of the Connacht defence, leaving wing-backs Peadar Gardiner and James Nallen in his wake, before firing a powerful shot past goalkeeper David Clarke.
Munster could do no wrong at this stage, and with Donnacha O'Connor following up with a point, they went seven points ahead.
Despite Mayo duo Conor Mortimer and Alan Dillon both registering points for Connacht in the second quarter, scores from Goulding and O'Connor cancelled out them out to give Munster a 1-06 to 0-02 half-time buffer.
Aided by the introduction of Galway's Joe Bergin and Roscommon's Ger Heneghan, Connacht came back strongly in the second half.
It took almost seven minutes for Dillon to register the first score of the second half, and five minutes later, following a foul on Dillon, Mortimer stepped up to ensure the deficit was reduced to five points.
But as Connacht tried their utmost to claw their way back into this game, Munster's defence stood firm.
At the opposite end, the only real goal chance of the second period fell to Munster's Alan O'Connor in the 45th minute.
His goal-bound shot was parried by Connacht goalkeeper David Clarke, who knocked the ball away for a '45'.
Scores from Goulding and Ian Ryan had Munster 1-08 to 0-04 ahead with 11 minutes remaining.
Connacht kept plugging away thanks to the efforts of Heneghan and Andy Moran, yet Munster had done enough groundwork to run out comfortable winners in the end.
Scorers for Munster: D Goulding 0-04 (0-01f), D O'Connor 0-03, T
O'Gorman 1-00, I Ryan 0-02 (0-01f).
Scorers for Connacht: C Mortimer (0-02f), G Heneghan (0-02f), A Dillon 0-02 each, A Moran 0-01.
MUNSTER: P Fitzgerald (Tipperary); D Duggan (Cork), J McCarthy
(Limerick), P Reidy (Kerry); T O Se (Kerry), S Lavin (Limerick), T
O'Gorman (Waterford); J Galvin (Limerick), A O'Connor (Cork); P Kelly (Cork), N Murphy (Cork), M O'Gorman (Waterford); D Goulding (Cork), D O'Connor (Cork), I Ryan (Limerick).
Subs used: R Costigan (Tipperary) for T O'Gorman (43 mins), J Hayes (Cork) for A O'Connor (49), E Rockett (Waterford) for M O'Gorman (60), S O'Donoghue (Cork) for Kelly (60).
CONNACHT: D Clarke (Mayo); G Bradshaw (Galway), T Cunniffe (Mayo), C Harrison (Sligo); P Gardiner (Mayo), D Blake (Galway), J Nallen (Mayo); R McGarrity (Mayo), M Finneran (Roscommon); A Moran (Mayo), P Harte (Mayo), A Dillon (Mayo); C Mortimer (Mayo), D Maxwell (Leitrim), E Mulligan (Leitrim).
Subs used: J Bergin (Galway) for Maxwell (29 mins), G Heneghan (Roscommon) for Mulligan (42), D Kelly (Sligo) for Mortimer (48).
Referee: Tomas Quigley (Dublin)
