"We were always the bridesmaids, never the brides," said Harlequins coach Alan O'Driscoll after the breathtaking climax to Saturday's Sharwood's Irish Senior Cup final at Belfield. "Well, I suppose Munster hockey got married today," he smiled. Mind you, they left it late to get to the altar, with Ciara McGrath scoring the winning goal against Hermes just 34 seconds from time to give the province its first success in the competition in 66 years.

And what a glorious triumph it was for the Cork club, making its first ever appearance in the final. A goal down with just 16 minutes to go and under intense pressure from the cup holders, who attacked in waves in search of a second score that would have ended the contest, sheer heart and courage brought them back in to the game before McGrath's goal snatched victory at the death.

At Easter Hermes scored eight goals in three games against leading Scottish, English and Ukrainian teams on their way to bronze at the European Cup Winners Cup, but on Saturday they could only break down the Harlequins defence once, and once wasn't enough.

Goalkeeper Sharon Hutchinson was immense, particularly in the second half when she made a string of superb saves, her best from Jenny Burke and Catriona Carey. Sweeper Joyce Kehelly gave a towering display, as did full backs Aoife Falvey and Helen Costello and centre-back Carol Welch. If anyone stood out, though, it was perhaps midfielder Karen O'Sullivan, who ran herself into the ground for her team and was simply inspirational.

It didn't look like it was going to be Harlequins' day, though, when Carol Devine gave Hermes the lead in the 21st minute, scoring from a short corner rebound after Hutchinson had saved a Daphne Sixsmith strike. The lead was deserved, Hermes were the better team in the first half and had chances to seal their win but Harlequins hung in and grew in confidence the longer the score remained at 1-0.

Their persistence was rewarded in the 54th minute when they levelled the game through Jean Logue, who brilliantly deflected Kehelly's corner strike past Tara Browne. Hermes rallied and looked the more likely to score again but Hutchinson and her defence blocked and saved brilliantly and tackled like terriers and there was no way through.

Harlequins had their chances too, with captain Rachael Kohler and Kehelly going close in the final six minutes, but just as extra-time seemed inevitable McGrath's goal heralded the mother of all Munster parties.

Harlequins won a hit-in on the left and the ball broke just inside the circle. Karen O'Brien dived full length to push it right, past the onrushing Browne, into the path of the unmarked McGrath and she steadied herself before firing low in the bottom left corner of the unguarded goal.

Did her life flash before her eyes when the opportunity presented itself? "Ah no, I just thought `give it a whack'," said the former Muckross player who was on the losing side when Hermes won their first Irish Senior Cup in 1997. "To have the opportunity to score the winning goal in the last few seconds of an Irish Senior Cup final, well, nothing compares with that."

"Hermes are a fantastic team," she said, "and all we could do in the first half was break down their play, they came at us so fast. They really are super and they gave us a fantastic game out there but I think the luck was with us. I've been in four finals before and in two we went a goal up and lost, so I knew we were still in the game even when they scored."

"Hermes are a better team than we are - they are class - but we just have it in here," said O'Driscoll, pointing at his heart. "You couldn't begin to imagine what this has done for Munster hockey, we are now up on a level with the top two or three teams in the country. Fantastic."

"I'm sure if we (Ireland) had qualified for the Olympics this is how it would have felt," said Karen O'Brien. "It's the greatest day of my life."

Hermes' Helen Kilroy, who, like team mate Roly Burke, was playing her final game for the club, paid a gracious tribute to Harlequins. "We had enough chances to win the game but every credit to them, they defended superbly in the second half and Sharon (Hutchinson) did brilliantly. They took their chances and if you do that you deserve to win."

"We wish them the best of luck in Europe next year, we know we couldn't have lost to a nicer team. Players like Karen (O'Brien), Rachael and Sharon have put so much in to hockey their success today is richly deserved. The Irish Senior Cup was a breakthrough for our club three years ago and I hope it has the same effect on Harlequins, that they go on from this to have even more success."

HERMES: T Browne, R Burke, D Sixsmith, S McDonnell, F Connery, M Logue, J Hyland, C Carey, C Devine, J Burke, D McDermott. Subs: A Byrne, H Kilroy, A Keane (capt), H Barron, S Hilliard.

HARLEQUINS: S Hutchinson, A Falvey, J Kehelly, C Welch, H Costello, C McGrath, K O'Sullivan, R Kohler (capt), J Chapple, K O'Brien, J Logue. Subs: V Fenton, H Chapple, G Kehelly, M Boland, K Barry.

Umpires: M Power (Cork) and K Eppel (Dublin).

IRISH SENIOR CUP FINAL (at Belfield) - Harlequins 2 (J Logue, C McGrath), Hermes 1 (C Devine).