Ireland international John Kelly was keen to play down the significance of Munster's 21-13 defeat of league champions Ulster on Saturday night.

The Corkman, who was making his 141st appearance for Munster at Musgrave Park, has been ever present in the province's number 13 shirt so far this season, so he is well-placed to comment on their performances to date.

After Saturday's bone-jarring battle with the northerners, Munster sit in ninth position in the Magners League table, two points behind next Friday's opponents Leinster and with a game in hand.

However significant Saturday's result turns out to be, Kelly does not want his team-mates to get ahead of themselves.

He cautioned: "It's a bit early to say it's looking good for us. We have two wins from four in the league, so I suppose it's a start.

"Ulster were very impressive in the first few games so it was always going to be difficult for us. They had a great start and caught us cold with their try, but we got back into it and our forwards were superb."

One result will certainly not make Munster's season and with frontline backs Christian Cullen (shoulder), Shaun Payne (hip), Anthony Horgan (knee) and Ian Dowling (hamstring), who were all injured against Ulster, worryingly due for medical examinations today, their beating of Ulster could turn out to be their costliest 'win' for some time.

Kelly added: "It was important for us to win, to get back on track. We've a lot of big games coming up to prepare for - Leinster next Friday, then Edinburgh and then the Heineken Cup so we've plenty of work to get through."

Munster coach Declan Kidney praised the work ethic of his players after they came from being 10-0 down after seven minutes' play to overhaul Ulster and gain revenge for last season's brace of defeats.

"I couldn't compliment the players enough - they had to dig very deep, probably more than we thought we'd have to do at this time of the year," he said.

"But if we're to do anything in this competition, we simply have to win our home games. I think everyone knows Ulster were going well and we had a fair few men in for their first games of the season.

"They did very well. We'll take a look at things and how we stand on the injury front, and hope to perform well again next week."