Munster interim coach Ian Costello believes their 38-20 win against Ulster was the perfect send-off for Peter O'Mahony, Stephen Archer and Conor Murray at Thomond Park.
The province scored six tries in a vital Interpro win, which has given their play-off and Champions Cup qualification hopes a major lift following back-to-back defeats in the league.
With next week’s final regular season game taking place in Cork, O’Mahony, Archer and Murray played their final games for the province at Thomond Park – barring multiple upsets in the play-offs.
O’Mahony stole the show, with the former captain putting in a vintage performance which he capped off with his side’s final try just before the hour mark.
And Costello says putting in a performance for that trio was the focus of their motivation this week.
"The biggest relief... we all know there's play-offs, we know what's at stake in terms of Champions Cup.
"We know that there's a huge amount of external pressure but actually this week, we went a lot deeper than that. We knew that was there.
"It was about Peter, it was about Conor, it was about Stevie. It was about what they've done for the club, how they deserve to be sent off.
"We had a meeting on the pitch tonight and Tadhg [Beirne] spoke so well and it really captured the whole week around putting a performance out there that reflected how much those lads meant to us and meant to the club. That's more powerful than anything.
"And it probably reflected what those lads meant to us. In a lot of elements, without being perfect, I think we did that. That's the relief."
Munster eventually pulled clear in the second half after a chaotic first 40 minutes, summed up by a four-minute spell shortly after the first quarter when the team shared three tries, two of which went to Munster.
The third of those was an opportunistic score from captain Tadhg Beirne who charged down a Jack Murphy kick before regathering the ball, something Costello says came straight from the analysis room and his attack coach Mike Prendergast.
Ian Costello on what was Munster's 'best performance for a long time' against Ulster as the province now aims for the #URC play-offs #rtesport pic.twitter.com/CoKzRXJT5Q
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) May 9, 2025
"We scored, they scored, we scored. That was the crazy bit.
"Genuinely, Mike previewed a very similar clip; Jean Kleyn blocked someone down in training, it was shown later in the week around targeting the ball-flight. You don't always get results like that, but Gavin [Coombes] got one against La Rochelle, and that got referenced in the week, and we thought there might be one in it.
"You might get one every four or five games, but it was really pleasing. Tadhg's determination to stay on his feet when Jack weas probably swinging out of him. I forgot about that crazy two or three minutes."
The result lifts Munster back into the top half of the table, although they will have to sit through the weekend’s action to see if they remain there. Even if they don't, a win against Benetton in Cork next week will be enough for a play-off berth.
For Ulster, the defeat leaves their Champions Cup hopes over, with a play-off spot now looking impossible even if they beat Edinburgh next week.
"We’re massively disappointed to now miss out on the top eight but we will regroup," head coach Richie Murphy said.
"We have a group of players, obviously some are massively experienced and some are very, very young players who are learning at this level.
"These games over the last number of weeks will massively stand to us going forward but ultimately at this moment in time, we’re not good enough.
"I think even in the first half we worked quite well to get the scores that we got. I think we probably gave away a few scores a little bit easy.
"Our breakdown tonight was exposed a little bit, our speed, our ability to stay on our feet and our ability to get into that breakdown quickly, Munster probably got the better of us.
"We put a lot of pressure on their lineout, took away a lot of launch."
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