On a night when Alan Quinlan marked his 200th appearance in a Munster shirt with another superb performance, Munster maintained their 100% start to the Magners League campaign on a 22-10 scoreline in front of a near 16,000 audience.
On a night when conditions lended themselves to perfect rugby, supporters were treated to a disjointed first half that yielded just three points from the boot of Ronan O'Gara, a half totally dominated by the home side, but then progressed to a much different second where Munster, outscored 2 tries to 1, prevailed thanks to a dominant pack and a near flawless return from O'Gara's trusty right boot.
The Corkman who came into the fray as a 4th minute replacement for Ian Dowling missed his first two efforts – the second from distance had the direction but fell just short – but then kicked six from seven to ensure Munster gained full reward for their superiority in nearly every phase of the game.
Ospreys created very little. Tommy Bowe's try in the 44th minute as much due to the Monghan man's brilliance rather than any special creativity from his Welsh international teammates while Richard Fussell's arrived when it mattered little and when Munster had been reduced to 14 following a yellow card for Billy Holland.
Munster led 3-0 at break thanks to that O'Gara penalty in the 36th minute, the visitors never once threatening the Munster line. There was a greater accuracy in the Munster play from the restart and after a series of probing drives, they went wide and Warwick's pass took out the Ospreys defence for Howlett to score in the corner.
O'Gara kicked the conversion and although Bowe kept his side's hopes alive with a try two minutes later, three O'Gara penalties in an eight minute period put further daylight between the sides. The outhalf landed his fourth successive penalty in the 68th minute and lasp gasp defence kept the Ospreys out under the posts before Fussell got over in the corner.
Munster: F Jones (D Barnes 73 mins), D Howlett capt, J Murphy, S Tuitupou, I Dowling (R O'Gara 4 mins), P Warwick, T O'Leary (P Stringer 77 mins), M Horan (du Preez 49 mins), D Fogarty (Varley 28 mins), J Hayes (Buckley 42 mins), D O'Callaghan, D Ryan, A Quinlan (Holland 68 mins), N Ronan, J Coughlan (O'Mahony 66 mins).
Ospreys: L Byrne, N Walker, T Bowe, A Bishop, S Williams, D Biggar, J Nutbrown; P James, M Davies, C Mitchell, A W Jones (Capt), I Evans, J Collins, M Holah, J Thomas. Replacements: R Hibbard, D Jones, A Jones, B Lewis, R Webb, G Owen, R Fussell.
Referee: Neil Paterson (SRU).