Fittingly it was the present-day Munster number eight Brian Gleeson who scored the game’s opening try in Cork

In the municipal space that surrounds Páirc Uí Chaoimh Munster Rugby installed a pop-up exhibition of images from Anthony Foley’s career. Arranged in a montage, there were 24 pictures from each chapter of his rugby life. In every action shot the game was written on his face, just behind the mud flakes and the Desperate Dan stubble.

A middle-aged man stopped and pointed to the fresh-faced picture of Foley in a St Munchin’s jersey accepting the Munster Junior Cup, 27 years ago now. “I played against him for Rockwell,” he said, “and he was a one-man team. He played number eight, but he was taking all the goal kicks and all the kicks to touch. He was that team.”

Honouring Foley’s memory, on the 10th anniversary of his stunning death, had been the words and music of the build-up all week. The montage, though, was a reminder of another anniversary: it is 20 years since he captained Munster to win the Heineken Cup for the first time. The soul of that Munster team was in the pack and for years Foley was its pulse and its conscience.

In the corner of the montage was an undated quote that must have been from around the time Foley retired. It read: “If I’m going to be remembered, I’d like to be seen as a stubborn player, someone who never gave in. Once there’s something to chase, I’ll chase it.”

In recent years, Munster have not always lived by that credo. This was not a night to break any of the old commandments.

For the pre-match formalities the Munster players took to the field in tracksuit tops adorned with the number eight, and the two team captains exchanged number eight jerseys in each other’s colours. But for the game Munster stood down the jersey, and Brian Gleeson wore number 24.

Then Gleeson scored first. Imagine.

Munster’s first attack forced a five-metre scrum, and the Munster number eight ran a hard line on the short side, as Foley had done a million times. A minute later, in the eighth minute of the game, the crowd in both stands got to their feet in a choreographed ovation that grew into a heartfelt chorus of ‘Munster, Munster’.

There had been a late consensus in recent days that this game should have been played in Limerick, for understandable reasons. But the sound of an emotional Munster crowd is not pegged to one place.

The crowd of 24,906 was more than 11,000 smaller than Munster’s last Champions Cup game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh last season, but the atmosphere was better. Racing came with a team that was a mix of milk and water, but they had more than enough quality and power to make Munster suffer during those periods in the game when their concentration dropped and their error count spiked.

Munster don’t have the wherewithal to be a force in this competition, but they have the resources to be better than they were last season. There were flashes of creativity and cohesion that suggested the scope for growth.

Charlie O’Shea, on his European debut, and in just his fourth senior appearance, was at the heart of it. On a massive night in his young career, he was spunky and composed and bright. He is only a couple of inches taller than Craig Casey, and his 20-year-old frame is a little coltish and unfurnished still, but every time he was floored he bounced off the ground like a Jack Russell.

He took a hit under one box kick, in front of the Munster posts, but in the next play, when they tried to bomb him again, he made an exceptional catch with Wilfried Hulleu towering over him. It was a moment where he couldn’t afford to show weakness.

Five minutes before half-time O’Shea made a stunning, crossfield break, from one half into the other, and it wasn’t just his surging pace that was impressive, but his bullish desire to take the game to Racing. He wasn’t looking around for support or easing off the gas to allow other red shirts to catch up: everything about it was fast-forward and funded by attitude.

When he was replaced 17 minutes into the second half Munster’s lead was just three points and the visitors had enjoyed their most productive period in the game. The time that remained was a test of Munster’s game management and bottle.

A week ago in Belfast they had thrown away a massive lead and just after half-time here they were 15 points in front. Even at this early stage of the season, another implosion would have been damaging.

They rejected that possibility. When Racing were reduced to 14 men for the last 10 minutes Munster played out the game in the visitors’ half. With a minute left on the clock Casey finished off a lineout maul in the corner for their fifth try.

About seven or eight minutes after the final whistle, all the Munster players and staff gathered in a giant circle in the middle of the field and sang Stand Up and Fight. They only had one person in mind.

The evening had been a perfect tribute.