Craig Gilroy capitalised on Paddy Jackson's miss pass to notch a seventh try in his last six league games and Louis Ludik also crossed the whitewash as the hosts established an 18-0 half-time lead.
Tries from Tom Isaacs and Alex Cuthbert narrowed that gap to four points after the break but Ludik's second and a Paul Marshall score secured a 36-17 win that leaves the Ulstermen just two points off the summit.
Glasgow's advantage at the top was narrowed as they could only manage a 34-34 draw with Leinster at the RDS Arena - although if not for Glenn Bryce's late score, the damage would have been worse.
First-half efforts from Scottish international trio Stuart Hogg, Richie Vernon and Mark Bennett appeared to put the league leaders on course for victory.
But Isaac Boss' charge down and try just seconds after the interval turned the game as the scrum-half crossed again and Jordi Murphy also went over to put the Leinstermen on top before Bryce's late contribution.
Munster are third, also two points behind Glasgow, after a second-half blitz saw them triumph 42-20 over Irish rivals Connacht at Thomond Park.
With the game delicately poised at 7-6, Duncan Casey crashed over on 54 minutes to turn the tide as the hosts ultimately ran in six tries in total.
There was also a big win for fourth-placed Ospreys - Dan Baker dotting down twice as the Welshmen made light work of Zebre to triumph 53-22.
Elsewhere, Edinburgh drew level on points with sixth-placed Connacht as they ended Scarlets' impressive home record with a 26-15 win.
The Welsh side had not lost a league game at Parc y Scarlets since December 2013 but Sam Hidalgo-Clyne's metronomic kicking display, allied with tries from David Denton and Phil Burleigh, saw Alan Solomons' troops over the line.
And Newport Gwent Dragons moved up to ninth in the table as Tom Prydie notched a crucial try double to help see off a valiant Benetton Treviso side 32-17.
TRY OF THE WEEKEND
With six minutes to go, a 28-13 lead to protect and the four-try bonus point already wrapped up, you might have expected Munster to kick clear rather than playing the ball from inside their own 22.
But after shifting the ball through the hands, Keith Earls grubber kicked past Matt Healy, capitalised on a fortuitous bounce and switched the ball inside to Denis Hurley who raced in for a memorable try.
BREAK OF THE WEEKEND
If Isaac Boss charging down Glenn Bryce's kick for the try got Leinster's comeback train rolling, then it was Jordi Murphy scything through the Glasgow defence like a knife through butter that kicked it into high gear.
The Ireland flanker picked the perfect angle to burst through the Warriors backline just outside their 22 and showed surprising speed to outstrip the covering defenders to touch down for his first try of the season.
PLAY OF THE WEEKEND
It looked fairly innocuous when Edinburgh full-back Jack Cuthbert collected a loose ball deep in his own half with eight minutes played but ten seconds later, the Scottish side were celebrating a remarkable score.
Cuthbert offloaded out of the back of his hand to Hamish Watson, who found Phil Burleigh and the centre exchanged perfectly-timed passes with Tim Visser to power over and leave the Scarlets defence shell-shocked.
PLAYER OF THE WEEKEND
Tom Prydie led Newport Gwent Dragons to glory over Treviso while Sam Hidalgo-Clyne was faultless from the tee in Edinburgh's win over Scarlets but it was Leinster's Isaac Boss who put in the performance of the weekend.
The scrum-half came off the bench to start his side's comeback with a charge down try before selling a clever dummy to notch a second score and ran the game from the base of the scrum in an enthralling 34-34 draw.
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