A James Cronin try past 80 minutes at the Liberty Stadium capped the five-point win that gets Munster up and running in the new Heineken Champions Cup campaign, the loosehead prop replacement touching down at the bottom of a powerful driving maul to add to scores from man of the match Jeremy Loughman, and Ireland wings Keith Earls and Andrew Conway.

Having dominated a struggling Ospreys side throughout with 78% possession in the first half, Munster’s lead was a relatively narrow 13-3 at the interval but Earls and Conway’s well-executed tries came in quick order around the 50-minute mark to all but secure victory.

With a challenging Pool 4 schedule ahead, Racing 92 at home next Saturday and then Saracens home and away in December, the bonus-point try at the death was crucial with only the concession of 15 penalties detracting from the result in Swansea.

Find you a prop that thinks he's a fly-half 🙌@Munsterrugby's Jeremy Loughman with a magical left-handed pass as Andrew Conway is unleashed down the wing!

Fantastic try 🔴#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/jQZgjLhKxt

— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) November 16, 2019

“Parts were very good but we’ve a lot to work on,” Munster captain O’Mahony said.

“I thought they played quite well, they put us under a lot of pressure in the first half. We got very little attacking platform – certainly lineout wise – it didn’t feel like we had a huge amount of platform.

“I thought we defended quite well but one thing for me was the discipline – certainly away from home, it’s something we’d hang our hat on but we were ill-disciplined if anything. But our attack shape was good at times.”

O’Mahony had spearheaded an excellent performance from the Munster forwards with Loughman also prominent in his first European start in place of the injured Dave Kilcoyne.

The loosehead scored the opening try on 34 minutes and also provided a crucial pass in the build-up to Conway’s 52nd-minute score as Munster scored straight from the Ospreys restart following Earls’s try in the left-hand corner.

All three tries were well constructed but it still needed that last-gasp effort, stemming from a ruck penalty won on halfway, and the driving maul from a five-metre lineout to secure the maximum return.

It was put to O’Mahony that Munster enjoy doing things the hard way, to which he replied: “I certainly don’t enjoy it at the time, but they’re a very physical side and I think you saw from their maul attack it was very good. We found it difficult to stop.

“I said to the lads inside: ‘you can never take for granted getting five points away from home in this competition’. It’s a difficult, difficult thing to do.”