The last whistle had scarcely sounded when Mick Galwey called the Munster squad in for a mid-pitch huddle, even banishing the photographers around them. The gist of his message was crystal clear. "One to go lads, one to go." There was a palpable difference to the way Munster celebrated winning this semi-final to their victory over Toulouse in Bordeaux two years ago. The pain of the ensuing 9-8 defeat in the final to Northampton has ensured that much. Winning the Heineken Cup has become their holy grail, their magnificent obsession.

"One to go, one to go," repeated Jerry Holland when first to emerge from the Munster dressing-room. You sense it will become a mantra well before the May 25th final against Leicester in Cardiff. "We owed the supporters a final. Today was payback." The memory of two years ago, the debt to the Red Army; their causes are endless. It's rarely said, because it doesn't have to be, but there's also a sense of doing it for Declan Kidney and Niall O'Donovan in their final game as Munster coaches, and for Peter Clohessy in his final game.

Then on Saturday they also carried the strongest whiff of vengeance they've possibly ever carried into a match. It wasn't so much underperforming and losing to Castres in their final pool game, it was the aftermath; the citing of Ismael Lassissi for biting and Castres' contemptible response and unsubstantiated accusations of racism.

"It wasn't difficult to get up for this game," smiled Kidney cryptically and knowingly. "There was only one way to answer what went on." "We played much better than we did the last time we played them," admitted Clohessy. "We had a point to prove after all their cribbing and calling us cheats and liars. That made it all the sweeter." For the Claw it was a perfect adieu to the French.

Nonetheless, it wasn't without its funny moments. As Clohessy and Brent Moyle sat side by side when sinbinned, Clohessy said to him: "If you were any good you'd be playing in South Africa." To which Moyle retorted: "How many times have South Africa beaten Ireland?" "There was no answer to that really, so I just squirted him with water." Remarkably, Lassissi came into the Munster dressing-room to swap jerseys with, yep, Clohessy. Not that Munster will be crying over the thought that Castres won't be playing in the European Cup next season. Oh yeah, they'll be heartbroken over that.

Considering the baggage from the last meeting and more, Saturday's semi-final was never going to be a classic. The contrast in styles, the increasing familiarity caused by five meetings in under 18 months, the prize at stake ensured it was always likely to be something of a grim battle. The respective captains, relayed a constant stream of claimed wrongdoings, Galwey once stating that one of his players had been spat at.

In the circumstances Chris White's contribution cannot be hailed enough. The game simmered all the way through but he kept a vigilant control on it all while somehow letting it flow to some degree. With a different referee, it could easily have boiled over amid a stream of yellow and even red cards.

"We kept our discipline and that probably won us the game," reckoned Kidney. One moment summed up this collective determination. When eagerness got the better of Donnacha O'Callaghan, in his only low point of the match, and he pushed up offside in granting Romain Teulet his fourth penalty, Peter Stringer looked up at him and, without saying anything, reduced him to the same size with a withering look.

Once again it had been a sheer pleasure to be with them and their supporters for a few days. If you weren't moved by Saturday you were, most probably, charged by mere batteries. Grown men sang, laughed and cried.

All of the players spoke of the Munster supporters, how much it gave them a lift at various junctures in the match, and this bond moved Bernard Laporte as much as anyone. "I want to congratulate all the Munster players and coaches. And I think for rugby it is beautiful. The union between the public and this team is wonderful for rugby," said Laporte. "On the field I think the better team win today, they had the confidence, the strength and the sureness."

"They're absolutely brilliant and there's never a bad word from them," said Kidney. "Never. The reason why we do it for them is because of what they did in Twickenham, what they did in Bath the day we lost there, and in Lille last year. There was never a moan. And if you don't do it for that, you'd never do it for anything."

It also extends his and Niall O'Donovan's bond with the squad they've had five glorious seasons together. The Munster Brains Trust prowled the touchline all throughout, regularly going into conclave, living every minute and then embracing teary-eyed when John Kelly scored the insurance try. Though he has an even lesser role with Ireland, it is clear that O'Donovan has taken criticism of Ireland's set play hard. He and Kidney deserved Saturday, and the next month.

"Another month with them? 'Tis great," beamed Kidney. "Bloody disastrous," chided Donnacha O'Callaghan. But it had been another masterful tactical triumph, the late line-out steal by Paul O'Connell a feather in O'Donovan's cap. "That was down to him, he spends hours analysing opponents' line-outs," said Frankie Sheahan, another redemptory figure.

At half-time Kidney said: "I just gave them back their own words. They knew what to do. They're an intelligent group, and they did it. I sound a bit like an echo really."

Sheahan was first into song on a jaunty Cork-bound flight, and I Love You Baby has joined Stand Up and Fight as the dressing-room's new co-anthem. Whistling the Marseillaise, as the Red Army did earlier at departing Castres' supporters, also seemed highly appropriate.

Roared through Montpellier airport, there was a warm reception from several hundred at midnight back in Cork airport. Back there the frankly remarkable Galwey was unsure as to who would be better opponents in the final, but as of yesterday and Llanelli's latest heartbreaker, Clohessy echoed the feelings of many.

"It's probably a better draw for us mentally than playing Llanelli." As for himself, it could be the perfect swansong. "The final is going to be my last game. After all the years of playing rugby I've nothing other than an AIL medal really to show for it. Winning a European Cup with Munster in my last game would be lovely." The stuff dreams are made of.