It was a case of unlucky thirteen as Ospreys ended Munster’s winning run in Irish Independent Park this evening after the province slipped to its first defeat after twelve wins in over three years in Cork.

Although scoring three tries Munster coughed up a 17-10 lead and allowed the Welsh side to score eleven unanswered points during a twenty minute period that proved costly for Head Coach Anthony Foley’s men.

In an entertaining and well-matched opening half Munster produced two tries through Duncan Williams and Francis Saili while Sam Davies added one for the visitors.

With the scores 12-10 at the interval Munster increased the margin after Robin Copeland crashed over for the third try, however, with the wind at their backs the men in red were unable to capitalise further as Ospreys came from behind to grind out the 17-21 victory.

After an opening period of scrappy exchanges Munster claimed a well-taken try when Duncan Williams blocked down a clearing Ospreys kick from his opposite number and raced in to score the first try after 12 minutes.

Ian Keatley followed up with the conversion and the Munster pressure continued as the side dominated the possession and territory before forcing one pass too many deep inside the visitors 22.

When play shifted wide Ospreys Tom Grabham claimed an intercept ball and the winger broke away at speed only to be stopped on the Munster 22 by the covering Darren Sweetnam who put in a brilliant try saving tackle on making his first start on home-soil.

However, the visitors did manage to break the whitewash after 25 minutes and the sides were level after Sam Davies found a gap in the Munster defence to dart over the line before adding the conversion himself.

Munster’s response was immediate after Dave Kilcoyne pounced on an Ospreys dropped ball and the loose-head prop made the initial charge before Francis Saili displayed impressive footwork in rounding the Ospreys defence to score his first try for the province.

Keatley was unable to increase the tally before the half-hour mark with his kick striking the upright.

It was man-of-the-match Davies who grabbed the final points of the half with his first penalty kick after Munster were penalised for not rolling away.

As the rain came in and temperatures dropped for the second forty the conditions deteriorated but Munster managed to add a third try after Darren Sweetnam produced a fantastic offload in setting Robin Copeland up for the well-taken score on the 50-minute mark.

There was further Munster indiscipline and Davies struck his second penalty 5 minutes later to bring Ospreys back to within four points.

With 10 minutes remaining the Welsh club moved ahead for the first time after replacement winger Owen Watkin added his side’s second try before Davies completed his 16-point haul with a 78^th minute penalty.

PRO12 Round 14 round-up: Dave O'Callaghan was withdrawn from the squad after sustaining a rib injury in training. Jack O'Donoghue shifted to openside as Robin Copeland started at 8 and academy player Conor Oliver was included in his first match-day 23. Francis Saili scored his first try for Munster.

Munster: Andrew Conway; Darren Sweetnam, Francis Saili, Rory Scannell, Ronan O'Mahony; Ian Keatley, Duncan Williams (Tomas O’Leary 70); Dave Kilcoyne, Mike Sherry (53 Niall Scannell), John Ryan (Mario Sagario 70); Dave Foley, Mark Chisholm (Shane Buckley 62); Billy Holland – capt., Jack O'Donoghue, Robin Copeland.

Replacements: Niall Scannell, Peter McCabe, Mario Sagario, Conor Oliver, Shane Buckley, Tomás O'Leary, Cian Bohane, David Johnston.