Ulster coach Alan Solomons maintained the sending-off effectively ended the match, and it probably did, while Ulster not unreasonably clung to the belief it would have been a different game if they hadn't had a player sent-off after 10 minutes.

First the good news. The Celtic League final on March 1st will not necessarily be refereed by a Scottish official. Though the absence of a Scottish referee from the semi-finals and an Irish-Welsh match-up in the Celtic decider might have suggested it was their turn come February 1st in the Millennium Stadium final, one tournament official has revealed that the Cardiff showdown will demand "the best".

Which should, eh, therefore rule out the Scots and mean someone like Chris White of England.

The influence of the referee on the outcome of a match is, alas, often significant. Not every official would have issued a red card to Justin Fitzpatrick in the 11th minute of last Friday's semi-final, though Hugh Watkins of Wales certainly wouldn't have been in a minority of one.

Much of what transpired in that opening 10 minutes and first half particularly was the result of the Ulster mind-set. Hindsight being 20-20 vision, it's easy to question their mentality, but certainly it would be valid to ask whether they were too pumped up for their own good.

For games such as these, it's a particularly fine line, and the idea of getting players motivated for a Munster-Ulster Celtic League semi-final is surely the least of the coaches' difficulties.

In investigating whether they were secret formulas for success in the English FA Cup, the Guardian newspaper delved into Harry Rednapp's success in guiding both Bournemouth and West Ham to Cup wins at Old Trafford. Of course, there was no magic, but a former Bournemouth player, Chris Sulley, stressed that the players were never going to need much motivation.

"But Harry made sure we didn't get over-excited. There's always a danger with those games that you get over-hyped," said Sulley. "Harry took the pressure off the players and calmed it all down. 'Go and enjoy it,' he said, 'and don't let yourselves down'."

An hour before the game, there was a palpable difference between the two sets of players as they conducted their pre-match warm-ups, with Munster far more inclined to enjoy themselves - and this is not being wise after the event.

Suffice it to say that whereas the Munster players were smiling and shaking hands with people they knew, Ulster players were all heads down with steely-eyed determination and non-communicative.

Replaying that fateful incident, and bearing in mind the way four of the respective front-rows had broken up with fists flailing at the previous play, itappeared as if Fitzpatrick and Robbie Kempson especially were very fired up and Jimmy Davidson had a point when stating thatKempson had initiated the exchange of fisticuffs by throwing the first punch at Donnacha O'Callaghan.

Kempson had been provoked by O'Callaghan clearing Gary Longwell out ahead of the ball a mite too high and aggressively for his liking. As usual, though, tv panellists, pundits, spectators, players and coaches end up criticising the referee.

Yet, often enough, referees are criticised for taking the "cop out" of resorting to a yellow card for everything from killing the ball to GBH. Either way the referee can't win? And who put Watkins in this position? The players did.

You can tell from David Humphreys' reaction to Fitzpatrick's dismissal that he was none too pleased, especially with a Limerick touchjudge, Leo Mayne, involved. Yet, in utter fairness to Mayne, it is clear that he cited O'Callaghan for "starting it all". He didn't mention Fitzpatrick. That was Watkins' call, after he had the clearest view of anybody bar Anthony Foley of the punches Fitzpatrick threw into the number eight's face after the whistle.

The problem was that Mayne had been placed in a very difficult position by being called in as a replacement touchjudge on the day of the match after Nigel Owens had injured his shoulder removing a bag from his car and slinging it over his right shoulder the night before.

It wasn't so much that Fitzpatrick, per se, was missed or that it made a huge difference to the scrums, but the numerical imbalance and the sacrificing of Neil McMillen left Ulster at too much of a disadvantage.

In the 16 minutes that McMillen had been on the pitch, the openside had been the pick of Ulster's back-row, stealing an undermanned Munster ruck for what would be a rare turnover and snaffling James Topping's deflection off a restart to the right by David Humphreys.

As it transpired, fellow back-rower Warren Brosnihan continued playing with a broken hand which will now sideline him for eight weeks, and by the time McMillen returned for the South African the score was 28-3 and the game was up.

The strict mathematics of the game back them up to an extent. In the 40 minutes the sides were 15-a-side or 14-a-side, Ulster actually outscored Munster by 10-6. In the 40 minutes of the game when Munster had a man more, they made hay, outscoring Ulster by 36-3.

This was particularly true in the first period when Ulster were still in a discernible state of agitated shock. Yet, in the cold night air, Humphreys was the first to concede that he'd never known a Munster side to play with such tempo and width to their game.

If it wasn't for Paul O'Connell's latest injury, you'd say they were in a position of rude health, though it's a fine state of affairs when you can call in a replacement of Mick O'Driscoll's quality.

All told, there were at least four casualties from the game, who'll all miss their sides' Euro games next weekend, which could rise to five depending on the disciplinary measures against Fitzpatrick, whose case will be heard by the IRFU in the next 48 hours.

Then there's the additional edge this latest instalment will give to future meetings.

So it probably would be as well if they didn't clash again this season, whether it would be in that oxymoron known as "a non-competitive Guinness interpro" or otherwise.