It may have been Ulster outhalf, David Humphreys, final game for Ulster, along with five other players in the team who were leaving the club at the end of the season, but the Welsh team had other ideas as they secured a second place in the league.
It was Cardiff's first win in Belfast in the Magners League, and they rubbed salt in the wound by claiming a bonus point with two tries from man of the match Maama Molitika, Roger Davies and substitute, James Down.
Humphreys' swansong had not gone to plan either. Having recovered from an Achilles problem which had been hampering a final appearace in the white shirt before hanging the boots up, he was to tear a calf muscle in the eighth minute and his retirmenet was a little premature.
Ulster had led 12-7 at the interval after tries from Tommy Bowe and Simon Danielli, replacement outhalf, Paddy Wallace, adding a conversion.
But Cardiff got their noses ahead again early in the second half as Ulster fell off too many tackles.
Wallace's opportunist try was merely consolation on a night when fans forgot about another disappointing Ulster performance to bid their farewells to 15 players in total from the squad.

MATCH STATISTICS

Ulster: M Bartholomeusz; T Bowe, A Trimble, R Dewey, S Danielli; D Humphreys, I Boss; B Young, R Best (capt), T Court, J Harrison, R Caldwell, S Ferris, K Dawson, R Wilson.
Replacements: N Brady (Best 80), J Fitzpatrick (Young 54), M McCullough (Wilson 58), N Best (Pollock 50), P Marshall (Boss 80), P Wallace (Humphreys 8), N O'Connor (Trimble 80).
Scorers:
Tries: Bowe, Danielli, Wallace
Cons: Wallace
Blues: N Macleod; R Davies, M Stcherbina, D Hewitt, L Halfpenny; N Robinson, R Rees; G Powell, G Williams, T Filise, B Davies, S Morgan, B White, M Molitika, Xavier Rush (c).
Replacements: J Yapp (Powell 58), T R Thomas (B Davies 60), J Down (Morgan 39), M Lewis (Rush 60), R Shellard (White 68), J Spice (Rees 58), D Flanagan.
Scorers:
Tries: Molitika (2), Davies, Down
Cons: Halfpenny (3)
Bank of Ireland Man of the Match: Molitika
Att: 9672
Referee: Andy Macpherson (SRU).