Dan McFarland praised the resilience of his Ulster players as they headed into the international break on the back of a first win at Thomond Park in eight years.
Ulster put a tough trip to South Africa behind them with a 15-14 victory in Limerick, their fifth win in six BKT United Rugby Championship games this season.
Jordi Murphy and Tom Stewart scored from lineout drives in the opening 13 minutes before a late James Hume score on his return from injury gave Ulster a 12-point lead at the interval.
Ulster failed to score a single point in the second half, however, as indiscipline and inaccuracy allowed Munster back into the contest.
Donncha O'Callaghan and Darren Cave discuss Ulster's narrow win over Munster
Jack Crowley kicked two penalties and he had the chance to give his side the lead when Shane Daly scored their only try on 66 minutes, but his touchline conversion hit the post as the visitors held on to end the first block of URC fixtures on a winning note.
"We're thrilled to win here," Ulster head coach McFarland told RTÉ Sport. "There is a reason why we haven’t won here since 2014 and that’s because it’s so tough.
"Ultimately we did score three tries but, I’m not going to say we were lucky but it was a tight one and Munster could easily have taken it. I thought they played very well."
Ulster arrived back in Ireland on Monday after their tour of South Africa was derailed by a stomach bug that swept through the squad and led to the cancellation of their game against the Cell C Sharks.
Although they tired during the second half, Ulster still managed to create – and spurn – a number of scoring opportunities that would have secured the try bonus point and put the game to bed.
Ulster prop Marty Moore spoke to Murray Kinsella after his player-of-the-match performance
"We had three chances from five metres out in the second half and we messed them all up through things that we could control," said McFarland.
"It was important our maul functioned today and that was the area where we were dominant in the game. We certainly weren’t dominant with our attacking play, Munster snuffed us out well there.
"There were bits where we had to dig in but there were little bits that weren’t pleasing, like our discipline. I think we gave away six penalties in a row at one point.
"We put ourselves into a position where Jack [Crowley] missed the conversion to take the lead. We stuck in there and ultimately created a bit of field position at the end and chewed the clock.
"We should have scored but it was always going to be a tough one coming down here. I’m proud of the effort they put in."
Ulster head into the break in second place with five wins from six games, eight points behind leaders Leinster with a game hand, and McFarland feels his side are in a good place.
"In 2018 we came back from playing the Cheetahs [in South Africa] and six days later we came down to Thomond Park and lost by 60 points [64-7].
"That was a pretty seminal moment for us as a club. We talked about it, we didn't get angry or anything like that but we were determined that we were always going to be competitive when we came down.
"To come down here now after a trip to South Africa and pull out a win, it’s pleasing. I'm pretty proud of everybody who has been involved in the last three weeks."
