John Mulvihill was bitterly disappointed to leave Cork empty-handed, but he could not fault the effort of Cardiff Blues as Munster displayed their ruthless streak.
The Blues led the Irish province early in the second-half following stunning tries from Tomos Williams, Aled Summerhill and Rey Lee-Lo.
It looked as though they could claim a crucial victory in Cork, or at the very least bag some bonus-points, but it was not to be as Munster flexed their muscle.
They added to their two first-half tries with four more unanswered scores and despite a handful of chances the Blues were unable to cross the whitewash again.
Mulvihill said: “That was big for us. We were coming here to win and if we couldn’t do that we wanted to at least get four tries.
“It was disappointing because I thought we could have scored at the end but Anscombe was held back, we didn’t finish a driving lineout and just couldn’t get the ball over the line for a fourth try.
“We take nothing away, but I was really proud of our effort tonight.
“They are just a really good team, they grind you down, so it wasn’t about winning in the end, it was getting that crucial fourth try and we’re pretty disappointed. They controlled the game beautifully, played to their strengths, kept it tight and just rumbled over the gain line. They were just methodical towards the end
“That’s what it is, and we just have to work really hard next week to make sure we get a good result against Connacht.”
Cardiff’s failure to salvage anything from their trip to Irish Independent Park means Connacht remain third ahead of their clash with Zebre on Saturday. But Mulvihill believes the only game that matters is next week’s between the rivals in Galway and then the final round.
He added: “Tomorrow doesn’t really matter, we still have to win next week. They might be five points in front after this weekend, but we will have to turn it around next week.
“We’re looking forward to it. It will be a massive occasion for Connacht over in Galway, it will be a special day and we hope we can spoil their party.
“It comes down to the last game, Munster will need to beat Connacht to get a home semi and we will need to beat the Ospreys to make sure we finish with five out of six derbies.”