There is no variation this season on what has become a very familiar factor in the Allied Irish Banks-sponsored All-Ireland League. Yet again the first division title will be a Munster preserve as it has been since it was inaugurated at the outset of this decade.

A rivalry first fashioned on the playing fields of Munster, in a Senior Cup first-round tie almost 100 years ago will be renewed at Lansdowne Road tomorrow afternoon when Garryowen and Cork Constitution meet in the final of the league.

So we end the final decade of the century as we began it in the context of the league. When the competition was started in 1990-91, Garryowen and Constitution met in Dooradoyle with the title at stake. In those days there was no knock-out element. It was a league in every sense of the word. But circumstances were such that Garryowen and Constitution met in the final series and the title was at stake. Garryowen needed only a draw. Constitution had to win.

They provided a magnificent match, won 9-3 by Constitution who thus have the honour of being the first winners of the competition. To date it is their only success in the league and Garryowen won it twice, ironically clinching their first title in 1992 by beating Constitution at Temple Hill.

But on that occasion Constitution were involved in a relegation battle and a win over St Mary's College in Templeville Road enabled the club to retain their first-division status.

The first competitive match played between Constitution and Garryowen took place at Turners Cross, Cork, on March 23rd 1901 in the Munster Senior Cup and ended in a scoreless draw - nothing between these two great clubs on that occasion.

As the years have gone by, the clubs have met on countless occasions in the province's Senior Cup and League and more recently in the All-Ireland League. Many times since that initial match 98 years ago, very little has separated them.

It was Constitution who emerged as winners in the replay of that initial meeting in 1901, winning 6-3 at the Market's Field.

Constitution had competed in the Munster Cup for the first time a few years previously. By 1901 when they first played Constitution, the Garryowen club had established a great cup fighting tradition having won the trophy on no fewer than nine occasions between 1889 and 1899. That collection had included a winning run between 1889 and 1896.

Garryowen's great competitive tradition has been fashioned on their superb record in the Munster Senior Cup, a trophy the club has won on 34 occasions. Constitution can reflect on 22 Cup wins.

That is 56 titles between the two clubs, a statistic that tells its own tale about their successes and competitive qualities especially when one can add in the fact that Constitution won the Munster Senior League outright 25 times and Garryowen on 14 occasions. Both clubs have also shared it on a few occasions.

Those two clubs will bring to the scene tomorrow a great level of competitive intensity and passion. That is their tradition and, with the biggest prize of all in Irish club rugby at stake, will hone their competitive instincts to the finest edge.

And while both clubs have often played at Lansdowne Road, it will be a new location for a match between them. The Mardyke, the Market's Field, Musgrave Park and Thomond Park have all been packed to capacity through the years when the clubs have met in the final of the Munster Senior Cup, which they have on 11 occasion. If we get a match tomorrow comparable to some of those cup finals, then we are in for a treat.

They have been the two most successful clubs in the country this century. And without wanting to devalue the competitions in any of the other provinces, the fact is that the competitive scene in Munster has been more passionate and intense, on and off the field, than in the other provinces.

There is, I believe, a level of steel in the Munster that clubs in other provinces just cannot match. That competitive tradition is based on the Munster Senior Cup. It has been tellingly demonstrated in the All-Ireland League. Since the league was started only four clubs have been constantly in the first division. They are Constitution, Garryowen, Shannon and St Mary's. The next longest tenants are Young Munster, who gained promotion in the first year and have been in the top division ever since.

Lansdowne had first division status at the start of the league, but were relegated in 1992 before climbing back the following year.

THE St Mary's College club has been the best of the Leinster sides but, as was the case last Saturday, have failed in the crucial matches. They lost to Young Munster in the deciding match in 1993 when a draw would have given them the title, and they ended in third place. They also finished third in 1995, but six points adrift of Shannon. Blackrock finished second that year, but also six points behind Shannon.

Blackrock went to Dooradoyle in 1994 when a win would have given them the title but they lost and Garryowen won the championship.

St Mary's reached the semi-final last season after finishing fourth in the league, six points adrift of Shannon.

Shannon defeated St Mary's in the semi-final and then beat Garryowen, who had defeated Young Munster, in the decider at Lansdowne Road.

Since the league started, the finishing order in the top three has been: 1990-91: Cork Constitution, Garryowen, Lansdowne; 1991-92: Garryowen, Shannon, Ballymena; 1992-93: Young Munster, Constitution, St Mary's; 1993- 94: Garryowen, Constitution, Blackrock; 1994-95: Shannon, Blackrock, St Mary's; 1995-96: Shannon, Garryowen, Constitution; 1996-97: Shannon, Lansdowne, Terenure; 1997-98: Shannon, Garryowen, Young Munster; 1998-99: Garryowen, Constitution, Buccaneers.

Year after year the Munster clubs have prevailed when it has mattered most. Shannon demonstrated it over the last four years.

How many times did the club win the 50-50 matches? Garryowen gave a telling demonstration of it against St Mary's last Saturday.

I have watched Garryowen on countless occasions for over 50 years. I would, in the circumstances that obtained, rate that victory among the greatest the club has achieved in their magnificent history. Statistics can indeed may be misleading, but it is rather difficult to argue with those relevant to the All-Ireland League. No doubt some will try.

John Giltenane will replace Kieran Ronan, sent off in the semi-final against Buccaneers, in the Garryowen panel for tomorrow's AIL Division One final against Cork Constitution at Lansdowne Road. The team will be finalised later today.