It wasn't pretty but once again Munster found a way to dig out a result and go into the first break of the BKT URC season with a perfect five out of five record.
The question was could Clayton McMillan’s side back up last weekend’s statement win over Leinster and the answer was they got the job done.
With both sides missing their Irish contingent, it was the hosts who outlasted their opponents in an attritional, compelling battle in which there was never more than a score between the sides.
Jack O’Donoghue had given Munster an early lead but they soon fell behind to a quick-fire double from Byron Ralston.
However, Diarmuid Kilgallen’s intercept try, converted by JJ Hanrahan restored their advantage but Connacht captain Paul Boyle had the last say of the half.
The second stanza didn’t offer much in the way of cutting edge from either side but Munster outmuscled their opponents with O’Donoghue powering over for the winning score with 12 minutes left.
The win sees McMillan’s side sit joint top of the league entering the first international break.
After Ulster and Leinster were both involved in 12-try contests earlier in the day, this one had fewer tries but was just as enthralling, between errors and poor play the teams were evenly matched in the opening half.
Munster couldn't find a sustained rhythm, while Connacht were able to score when they got into the danger zone.
Finn Treacy almost gifted Munster the perfect start when he threw a sloppy pass to debutant Harry West but Munster infringed at the breakdown close to the line.
The breakthrough came in the 15th minute when Josh Ioane missed touch and Munster ran it back through Alex Nankivell and Diarmuid Kilgallen.
Dan Kelly rounded a defender before passing to O’Donoghue (below), who raced home.
Ioane then produced a moment of magic, offloading to Ralston inside the 22 to hand the Connacht centre a run-in, however, Cathal Forde missed the extras.
That put Stuart Lancaster’s side on the front foot and after forcing a couple of penalties, scored again with an under-pressue Ioane firing out a perfect pass for Ralston to finish off.
They were threatening again soon after but this time Kilgallen read Ioane’s intentions and picked off his pass before running half the length of Thomond Park to score under the posts.
But they still went in behind when Boyle forced his way over.
Munster protested but referee Andrea Piardi changed his on-field decision after the TMO confirmed the ball had been grounded.
There was a lengthy delay of around seven minutes, at the start of the second half when Ralston suffered a knee injury while making a tackle on Shay McCarthy.
He was one of seven players removed for injury during the game with Treacy, Thaakir Abrahams, Joe Joyce, Sean Jansen, Niall Scannell and Nankivell forced off at various stages.
The second period was stop-start but mostly played in the Connacht half.
Hanrahan made a couple of poor decisions and Darragh Murray somehow stopped McCarthy from breaking away as the hosts toiled.
Even when they did get up a head of steam they undid their good work.
Kelly was penalised for shouting at the referee when he felt Connacht were slowing down the ball close to the line.
Having already been warned about the constant chat, Piardi awarded a penalty and Connacht cleared.
The ball was slow out of the scrum, while Connacht stole three Munster lineouts and made others awkward.
The arrival of Ronan Foxe off the bench proved to be pivotal.
The prop made two big carries that brought Munster to the line and he was on O’Donoghue’s shoulder to force his captain over for the winning score and secure a fourth win in a row against Connacht.
Munster had laboured to single-score victories in their home games against Cardiff and Edinburgh earlier in the season and blew a late chance at securing a bonus point here that would have put them top of the table on their own.
McMillan had spoken during the week about the difficulty of replicating the emotional drive that saw them beat Leinster and with Connacht desperate for a performance to arrest their slide, will be delighted to come out with yet another win.
Munster are next in action at home to Stormers on 29 November with Connacht, now 12th, hosting the Sharks on the same day.
SCORERS
Munster: Tries - O'Donoghue (2), Kilgallen
Conversions: Hanraham
Connacht: Tries - Ralston (2), Boyle.
Munster: Shane Daly; Diarmuid Kilgallen, Dan Kelly, Alex Nankivell, Thaakir Abrahams; JJ Hanrahan, Ethan Coughlan; Michael Milne, Lee Barron, John Ryan; Jean Kleyn, Fineen Wycherley; Jack O'Donoghue (capt), John Hodnett, Gavin Coombes.
Replacements: Niall Scannell (for Barron 56-65), Jeremy Loughman (Milne 56), Ronan Foxe (Ryan 65), Evan O'Connell (Wycherley 63), Ruadhan Quinn (Hodnett 47), Jake O'Riordan (Coughlan 62), Tony Butler (Hanrahan 62 (for Nankivell 78), Shay McCarthy (Abrahams 20).
Connacht: Harry West; Byron Ralston, Hugh Gavin, Cathal Forde, Finn Treacy; Josh Ioane, Ben Murphy; Jordan Duggan, Dave Heffernan, Sam Illo; Joe Joyce, Darragh Murray; Josh Murphy, Paul Boyle (capt), Sean Jansen.
Replacements: Dylan Tierney-Martin (Heffernan 63), Peter Dooley (Duggan 50), Fiachna Barrett (Illo 50), Niall Murray (Joyce 34), David O'Connor (Boyle 68), Matthew Devine (Ralston 43), Sean Naughton (Treacy 10), Seán O'Brien (Jansen h/t).
Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR).
