And the Corkman, who displayed no ill effects ahead of his second Lions tour next month, notched a full house of points in the first half as he added a 34th-minute drop goal to an earlier penalty, try and two conversions.

“Having been on the sidelines, I’ve a great hunger for the game now. I’ve been lucky with injuries over the last six or seven years – there’s only really been three or four weeks that I’ve missed, here and there,” said a jubilant O’Gara.

“Right now, the thought of going on the Lions tour really excites me. My injury was a bad one but all credit to Ger Hartmann (physio) for getting it right. I’m a lot more stable in my lower half.”

Munster’s win, in coach Alan Gafney’s final game in charge before his departure back to Australia, looked under threat as they went scoreless for 34 second half minutes until Mike Mullins grabbed a clinching third try.

After Anthony Horgan (five minutes) and O’Gara (19) had both crossed the Scarlets’ whitewash in the opening 20 minutes, Mike Phillips’ 29th-minute try was a real boost for the Welsh region who were battling into a brisk breeze in the opening half.

Llanelli Academy fly-half Ceiron Thomas converted his halfback partner Phillips’ score and tagged on two penalties on the restart to reduce the arrears to 20-16.

Despite a lion’s share of second half possession, Gareth Jenkins’ men could not break down a stubborn Munster defence. Their skipper Simon Easterby was still proud in defeat.

“We gave Munster too much of a head start and they did what they do best - ground out the win,” admitted the Ireland flanker.

“Fair play to them, they scored in the final minutes, and deserved it.

“We did manage to get over the gain line a lot in the second half, but we just couldn’t finish them off. It’s disappointing to lose a final but it was a decent performance from us after leaking those early tries.