Johann van Graan hailed "special" Munster pair Conor Murray and Chris Farrell after both shone in their first starts of the season against Edinburgh last night.
Keith Earls ran in for a hat-trick of tries as the visitors were overwhelmed 44-14 at Irish Independent Park.
Even more pleasing for the natives was the sight of Farrell - out since suffering a serious knee injury for Ireland against Wales last February - and Murray - who hadn't started a game since his country's final Test win over Australia in June - both looking sharp and healthy.
Murray was shunted out to the wing after Andrew Conway picked up an injury.
"That wasn't the plan!" Van Graan told RTÉ Sport's Michael Corcoran.
"Unfortunately Andrew got a knock so I had to take him off. Conor is such a special player. I'm very glad for him, and I thought Chris Farrell was really special too.
"When you see the size of him I think it's going to be difficult for opponents to read him."
Reflecting on his side's performance, the head coach added: "I thought the first 30 minutes were very good. It was some of the best rugby we've played all season. They came out to bat in the second half and it was pretty even. We said we were going to keep it simple.
"We focused on our small little details and said, 'first things first, every action maters'. You want to kick on but maybe as a coach make some early substitutions, you want to get guys on to the field and it kind of goes against the flow.
"We conceded one or two penalties we shouldn't have... but looking at the whole picture if you'd told me before the game we'd get five points I would have taken it."
Van Graan also reserved extra praise for the supporters who crammed into the 8,000-capacity venue in Cork.
They created a boisterous atmosphere on a good night for the Reds.
"It's fantastic. The last two times we played here it was a sellout. It's great to see not only the supporters from Limerick but the Cork people have been brilliant.
"Sometimes it sounds like there's 50,000 people here."
