Munster came away from Castlebar with a priceless bonus-point win against Connacht at MacHale Park on Saturday afternoon on a historic day for Connacht.

A record 27,580 attendance for rugby in Connacht witnessed a superb spectacle with tries from Tom Ahern, Craig Casey, Jack Crowley and Diarmuid Barron getting Munster over the line.

Crowley also kicked 11 points off the tee in a complete performance that saw him deservedly named Player of the Match.

The win keeps Munster in fifth place of the URC with four rounds remaining with Conor Murray making a landmark 200th appearance for the province.

Next up is a trip to La Rochelle next Saturday in the Champions Cup Round of 16 (5.30pm Irish time).

Munster won the toss and chose to pay with the wind in the first half.

A strong start saw Tom Farrell and Tom Ahern win penalties at the breakdown with Crowley kicking the first points after six minutes with a penalty from 35 metres after Ahern got in over Connacht ball.

Ahern scored the first try after a brilliant move as Crowley dinked a ball over the Connacht defence for Ben O’Connor who popped a pass to Craig Casey.

Munster went left and Crowley gave the final pass for Ahern to finish powerfully in the corner. Crowley was off target with the touchline conversion as Munster led 8-0 after 13 minutes.

Seán Jansen powered over in the left corner as Connacht responded with Josh Ioane’s conversion off target.

Calvin Nash shrugged off a tackled and raced through a gap before passing inside for Casey to score Munster’s second try after 23 minutes. Crowley landed the tricky conversion to make it 15-5.

Munster were down to 14 when Alex Nankivell was shown a red card for a clearout after 30 minutes with Cian Prendergast stretchered off. We wish Cian a swift recovery.

Crowley’s clever 50:22 gave Munster the platform the attack late in the half. The lineout and maul moved Munster into the Connacht 22 with Connacht evemtually penalised. Crowley kicked the penalty to move Munster 18-5 ahead after an opening 40 the province had dominated with the wind at their backs.

Connacht scored early in the second half through Caolin Blade after a Finn Treacy break on 44 minutes with Ioane converting to make it 18-12.

The 14 men of Munster responded quickly as Crowley scored under the posts after a trademark whipped pass from Casey.

A Farrell turnover at the breakdown grabbed the initiative for Munster again with Barron powering over for the bonus-point try after 58 minutes despite the best efforts if Bundee Aki.

Crowley was off target with the difficult conversion against the wind but Munster led 30-12 going into the final quarter.

A yellow card for Tadhg Beirne after 61 minutes saw Munster go down to 13 men as Connacht attacked close to our line with Jansen scoring his second try from close range moments later. JJ Hanrahan added the extras and Munster’s lead was cut to 11 points.

Outstanding kicks from Crowley were keeping Connacht pinned back with Alex Kendellen unlucky not to score a fifth for Munster when he was stopped just short of the line.

A massive 50:22 from Connacht gave them momentum and Ioane scored their fourth try after 72 minutes to set up a grandstand finish with the Munster lead down to six points.

Beirne returned to get Munster back to 14 and Connacht thought they scored ith three minutes to go but a croc roll earlier in the move saw the try chalked off.

There was still time for more drama as Niall Scannell was sin-binned for a breakdown infringement and Hanrahan kicked into the Munster 22.

Jean Kleyn came up with a huge lineout steal on his return to action for the first time since October and Munster survived to win an Interpro epic.

URC Round 14 Round-Up

Conor Murray became the 15^th player to play 200 games for Munster.

Two Academy players featured for Munster, full-back Ben O’Connor and flanker Ruadhán Quinn.

Craig Casey and Jean Kleyn both returned from injury for their first appearances since December and October respectively.

Murray, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Crowley and Calvin Nash made their return from international duty.

Munster Rugby: Ben O’Connor; Calvin Nash, Tom Farrell, Alex Nankivell, Seán O’Brien; Jack Crowley, Craig Casey (Conor Murray, 67); Jeremy Loughman (Josh Wycherley, 60), Diarmuid Barron (Niall Scannell, 60), Oli Jager (Stephen Archer, 55); Fineen Wycherley (Jean Kleyn, 55), Tadhg Beirne (C); Tom Ahern, John Hodnett (inj, Alex Kendellen, 25) (Ruadhán Quinn, 67), Gavin Coombes.

Unused replacement: Rory Scannell