They say revenge is a dish best served cold but it was in the warm sunshine of Musgrave Park that Cork Constitution inflicted some payback on Garryowen this afternoon.
Beaten by the Limerick side in last year's decider, Con made no mistake on this occasion as Jeremy Manning kicked all of his sides points in the 18-8 win to secure their third All-Ireland League title.
Having fallen behind in the opening minutes through Conor Kilroy's penalty, it may have taken Con until the half-hour mark to get their noses in front but once they took the lead they never looked like being beaten.
Manning, who returns to New Zealand in the summer, gave an impeccable display of place-kicking, slotting over five penalties and throwing in a drop-goal for good measure.
And while Garryowen's Alan Kingsley did cross for the game's only try as they attempted to get back into the contest, it was too little too late for the defending champions.
Cork Constitution: R Lane; J Kelly, T Gleeson, E Ryan, C Healy; J Manning, J Stringer; D Hurley, D Murray, T Ryan; M O'Connell, captain, S O'Connor; F Cogan, B Holland, B Cutriss. Subs: E Leamy for Cogan and D Lyons for Kelly 65 min, C Murphy for Ryan 78 min
Garryowen: C Kilroy; C O'Boyle, K Lewis, C Doyle, K Earls; W Staunton, G Hurley; R Brosnan, D Varley, E McGovern; M Melbourne, F McKenna; P Neville, captain, P Malone, A Kavanagh. Subs: D Sherry for McKenna 55 min, D Lavery for Brosnan 63 min, L Bourke for Kilroy 65 min, B O'Mahony for Kavanagh and F Quaglia for Staunton 68 min
