Leinster were buoyed by two first half tries from Gary Brown and James Norton, while Munster were forced to rely on the boot of Paul Burke, who kicked all of his side’s points.

Leinster opened the scoring when Brown glided past Christian Cullen to score to the left of the post after only 14 minutes. Brian O’Meara added the conversion, and only five minutes later Norton kicked ahead and was able to control the ball with his feet to get the second try.

O’Meara increased the lead with his second conversion and extended Leinster to 17-0 with a penalty after half an hour before Burke replied with his first successful kick just before the break.

The early second half was commanded by Burke who reduced the gap to only five points with three successful kicks in the first 25 minutes of the second period.

Leinster were then forced to defend resolutely as Munster pressed in the closing stages with Christian Cullen getting closest to breaking the Leinster line – but a knock on saved the home side.

A yellow card for Ricky Nebbett left the home side struggling in the final five minutes but they were able to hang on and repeat their Celtic league final success of 2001.