Note of caution as Connacht and Ulster win under trial rules at Croke Park

Allianz GAA Football Interprovincial semi-finals

Ulster 0-23 (23) Munster 2-11 (19); Connacht 4-21 (37) Leinster 1-11 (15)

Aidan O'Shea's Player of the Match display, including the first four-point goal to be scored at Croke Park, propelled Connacht through to tomorrow evening's interprovincial final where they will meet Ulster on a night where the new proposed Football Review Committee rules were under the microscope.

The in-form Breaffy man helped himself to 1-03 overall, a tally that included the novel four-point goal, a two-point long-range score from beyond the new 40m arc and a regular point.

It was all too easy for the Pádraic Joyce-managed westerners who had 22 points to spare on a surprisingly outclassed Leinster.

Leitrim's Barry McNulty, London's Liam Gallagher and Ciarain Murtagh of Roscommon got among the goals too as Connacht made short work of Leinster to secure a final clash with Ulster.

It wasn't as easy for Ulster in this evening's second semi-final who required late points from Antrim's Marc Jordan and Derry's Niall Toner to see off Munster.

The real intrigue was around the trial rules with the competition being used as a vehicle to test out the FRC's suite of 'rules enhancements'.

Munster's two goals, from Sean Walsh and Kerry's Diarmuid O'Connor, added up to eight points and that increased reward kept them in the game right until the end.

Ulster goalkeeper Niall Morgan made light of the restrictions on passing back to goalkeepers and bombed forward for one long-range two-point score and he also set up several more opportunities.

Morgan was named Player of the Match and both he and O'Shea expressed some reservations about the rules afterwards.

"The tap and go and keeping the three players up work," said O'Shea. "The scoring system, I don't think there's any real need, you know, the arc and stuff like that. But look, there's a lot of work gone into this from the FRC so we've got to embrace it as best we can. It's nice to try something different but probably a few tweaks need to be made."

On keeping the three players in the opposition half rule, O'Shea shrugged.

"There's an opportunity to transition quicker with that," he acknowledged. "The kick-pass comes back into play and defensively they have to try and react to that. It creates more scoring opportunities. That can only be a positive for the game."

O'Shea concluded on a cautious note.

"I don't want to be judging them off one game and that was a very one-sided game as well but we need to be careful we don't change too much," he said.

Morgan, who pulled off a terrific save to deny Munster's Ian Maguire late on, was cautious too after playing a key role in Ulster's impressive win over Munster.

"The word we seem to be using at the minute is manic," said Morgan of the games under the new rules. "Players are going to have to learn very quickly if this is what's going to come in, because by the sounds of it they're coming in no matter what."

Morgan said that players are going to have to be "fitter" to keep up with the new rules which allow for quicker restarts and a more dynamic game.

And he warned that it could become a "hoofing match" if the rule demanding that goalkeepers kick the ball out beyond the new 40m arc comes in permanently.

It was an eye-opening night overall with all four provinces running their benches and using the majority of their 30-man panels.

Connacht had it easiest and hit Leinster hard and early to run up a 1-18 to 0-04 half-time lead.

Even with four points for a goal, Leinster weren't going to come back from that and conceded more goals to Connacht trio McNulty, Murtagh and Gallagher.

Munster put up more of a challenge against Ulster. John Cleary's southerners were chasing the game throughout but getting four points for Sean Walsh's 23rd minute goal kept them in it.

Morgan was restricted in terms of backpasses under the trial rules but was permitted to take a pass in the opposition's half and duly darted forward on several occasions.

He scored once himself and set up two more. Diarmuid O'Connor's late Munster goal got the deficit down to just two points but Ulster pulled away with late Jordan and Toner points. Morgan was the creator for the Jordan score.