As Tim Mulcahy (62) from Bruff, Co Limerick, stood in the stands looking down on the pitch, his eyes began to well with tears.
"You know, there's been so many highs and lows," he said, still shaking his head from side to side as the Munster team ran a lap of honour around Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
"I saw Munster play in '54 against Ulster. I was at the New Zealand game in '78. I remember when we were annihilated by Toulouse in '96, when just 40 or 50 fans made the journey. And now to be here, to win, with so, so many fans, means an awful lot."
Many more emotional scenes were replicated throughout the cavernous stadium when the final whistle sounded.
Throughout the game, spine-tingling renditions of The Fields of Athenry and deafening roars from the legions of fans reverberated inside the roofed stadium.
In previous years there had been the near misses in the finals, the miracle matches and the moments of defeat when fans wondered whether their team would ever reach another final.
But as the referee's whistle blew, 70,000 Munster fans erupted. Munster's journey was complete: they had lifted the Heineken Cup on their third attempt.
William Evans, a farmer in his 60s from Prestatyn, north Wales, and wearing his old Welsh jersey, said: "I've been to all the Welsh internationals, I've seen us win the Grand Slam, but this was absolutely phenomenal. I'm a neutral, but this is just an incredible following. I thought my ears were going to pop with all the noise!"
For many, the moment when images from a thronged O'Connell Street in Limerick city were beamed on to the giant screen in the stadium during the second half carried a powerful emotional charge. Biarritz had clawed their way back to within a point and a lull began to fall over the crowd.
Suddenly fans were wondering if, once again, the tide was going about to go out for Munster.
"To see the masses at that point, it gave everyone such a lift," said Basil O'Mahony (47) from Caherdavin, Co Limerick, donning a red beret and Munster scarf. "A lot of people couldn't be here, they couldn't make it because of tickets or money or whatever, but they were here with us when they came on that screen."
The final whistle was a time to remember his late father, Thomas "Jula" O'Mahony, a fanatical Shannon and Munster rugby fan who was buried in the Shannon colours. "He'd have loved to have been here, but I have a reminder of him here," he said, opening his jacket to show a tattered Shannon rugby rosette sewn into the lining. "I've brought him to every final."
Tim Mulcahy was thinking of his brother John, a huge Munster fan who died of a heart attack several years ago, just minutes after the team's famous "miracle match" in Thomond Park.
"There's a lot of his family here today and we're thinking of him," he said. "He would have loved to have seen this."
Outside the stadium the Lord Mayor of Limerick, Diarmuid Scully, was basking in the afterglow of a victory, working out how to get back to the city in time for city reception for the team.
"It might be a coincidence, but the renaissance of Limerick has been happening at the same time as Munster's success in Europe," he said. "As the squad has been getting bigger and better, the city has been prospering. We have tremendous self-belief now. We know we can take on the best and win."
Morgan Leahy (41), from Ahane in Limerick, was looking forward to returning home with his seven friends with a mixture of anticipation and dread.
"We hired an old twin-engine plane that used to be crop duster to get us over here today," he said. "If we make it back in one piece, we'll be doing very well."
"Some people don't understand the Munster phenomenon," added Pat O'Connor from Quilty, Co Clare. "The only way I can describe it is that supporting Ireland is supporting your country, but supporting Munster feels like your family.
"It's been such a wonderful occasion. We've all been bawling our eyes out. This team has given us so many happy days and this just tops them all."