It took Munster coach Declan Kidney more than five minutes to find team manager Niall O'Donovan after the final whistle. Munster's management team embraced, and their emotional resolve disintegrated as tears cascaded down cheeks. John O'Sullivan reports on a red-letter day in Paris.

It was a powerful image and one that encapsulated the depth of feeling that greeted Munster's amazing 16-14 victory over Stade Francais in Saturday's Heineken Cup quarter-final.

A private moment played out in public, the two men slowly picked their way through the ecstatic Munster supporters for the relative sanctuary of the dressing-room. Outside, the red horde of more than 3,000 was in full voice, rocking Stade Jean Bouin with The Fields of Athenry, Olé, Olé, Olé and Here We Go.

There wasn't a dry eye amongst the visiting contingent as the gut-wrenching emotion of the preceding 85 minutes of rugby gave way to unabashed celebration, captain Mick Galwey being passed from shoulder to shoulder, grasping the Munster flag.

He ventured: "It's absolutely fantastic. The team matured there today like it never did before. We dug deep and pulled through. We said beforehand that we needed everyone to play well and to a man we responded. It's fantastic for everyone concerned, especially the fans."

The team's supporters descended on Paris in their droves, festooned in red and creating a wonderful atmosphere in a 12,000 sell-out crowd. Munster have enjoyed some wonderful victories in Europe over the past four seasons, known too the crushing disappointment of losing both a final and semi-final but Saturday's win might just stand alone.

Defeat in the Celtic League Final to Leinster, a less than assured performance against Castres that cost them a home quarter-final - Munster's invulnerable veneer seemed tarnished irrevocably. Their response was typical of the characters involved.

Kidney offered the simple analogy: "Some teams can recover from disappointment once, occasionally twice, to come back and claim victories but these guys are just phenomenal. It's a privilege to work with them."

Sitting in an empty dressing-room the emotionally exhausted Munster coach tried to put some perspective on what had been achieved. "I thought we did exceptionally well to reach the Celtic League final and that it was an enormous achievement to reach the play-off stages of the European Cup when you consider that this is the first week we had all 30 players available for training. What we did in two training sessions was worth four."

It was a remarkable victory, not least for the setbacks and distractions that the Irish team had endured during the week. Munster felt that their final training session, which included lineout variations for the game, was being monitored by a local representative; a row ensued. There were other minor shenanigans that irked the visitors and then on Friday morning came the news that Castres number eight Ismaelia Lassissi had had his one-year ban for biting Peter Clohessy rescinded on appeal.

Anthony Foley articulated the players' feelings: "They (Stade) indulged in a lot of tactical stuff designed to upset us. It irritated us instead. Things like they wouldn't leave the ground when they were supposed to and messing about like that.

"There was a lot of anger in us when match day came but we brought it out in a controlled manner." It was a theme picked up on by hooker Frankie Sheahan. "Talk about getting a result against the odds. It's taken a while to sink in. We led at half-time having played with the wind and were united in our belief that we could do it. It was as tough as it gets but we had ice in the mind and fire in the belly."

Stade Francais were numbed by defeat. Beaten finalists last year, they vowed to go one better. Yet, they were magnanimous in defeat. "We made mistakes driving into the ruck and giving away possession and details like that are very important at this stage of the competition against a team of Munster's experience," said team manager Fabrice Landreau.

"Munster are a better side than last year, they are passing the ball better and have a good back line. I hope they win the cup for Irish rugby."

Stade's Australian coach John Connolly admitted: "They deserved to win today. They had their big names back in action and that was a big difference."