Ireland prop Marcus Horan scored his first Celtic League try for two seasons as Munster out-punched provincial rivals Leinster at Musgrave Park.
Alan Gaffney's side came through the loss of influential fly half Ronan O'Gara - forced off with a hand injury - to record their 10th straight league success as both Horan and Frankie Sheahan struck off second half lineout drives.
Leinster, without a win at the Cork venue since 1985, staged a late comeback as Eric Miller's 75th-minute try, added to by an acutely-angled conversion by David Holwell - the kicker of two penalties - saw the visitors steal a bonus point their performance hardly merited.
Twenty four Ireland internationals boasting over 700 caps took to the field, but with sleeting rain on the horizon, the first half quickly turned into a penalty duel.
Neat footwork from fit-again centre Gordon D'Arcy almost saw the visitors closest to the try line on 23 minutes.
His incision saw Brian O'Driscoll and Girvan Dempsey combine to set Denis Hickie flying for the left corner, but the retreating Anthony Foley bounced the Irish winger into touch.
Hands in the ruck in the third minute saw O'Gara kick the home side in front from 20 metres out.
Holwell, who turns 30 on Friday, quickly squared things up on 12 minutes when punishing a close range ruck infringement, but O'Gara managed to buffer Munster's lead before departing the scene.
The 25-year-old drew a 16th-minute chance wide but made amends with a drilled 45-metre effort on 28 minutes.
His replacement Paul Burke - Munster's leading scorer in the competition with 89 points - had an immediate impact as a late maul saw Leinster cough up a penalty chance which the former Harlequin duly converted.
A 50th-minute penalty reversal for a late tackle by Shane Horgan on Peter Stringer helped Munster increase their 9-3 advantage.
Paul O'Connell's lineout take saw Horan shunted over on a second wave drive, under the challenges of Byrne and Leo Cullen.
Burke hammered the conversion wide, and missed the extras of Sheahan's touch down - his second in successive home games - on the hour, but Munster's lead looked a comfortable one.
Ben Gissing's well-timed offload saw Miller dive in at the right corner on 75 minutes, but Leinster's 10-point haul in the final 14 minutes failed to prevent Munster moving a single point behind leaders the Ospreys.
