But replacement Owen Watkin pegged them back with a score of his own, adding to Sam Davies' first-half effort, and the fly-half's boot then saw them over the line as he notched up 16 point in total.
The 21-17 loss was Munster's third GUINNESS PRO12 home defeat on the spin, and despite their losing bonus point the loss leaves their hopes of a top-four finish hanging by a thread.
And Foley admitted the cost of the defeat could be significant with sides ahead of them in the table picking up wins.
"It is very frustrating," he told the Limerick Leader. "Obviously you get to 17-10 ahead - even leading 12-10 at half-time having played into a stiff breeze - I thought the boys had played really well.
"You hope maybe we will kick on and maybe get another try. But there was a period after we went 17-10 up when we didn't get a break, maybe that's through ourselves or through others. That is the way the game flowed.
"It was about making sure we got a grip of the game and we never seemed to grasp it. There was one or two occasions where we lost control of the ball and didn't execute what we were aiming to do so some of it was in our own hands.
"Everybody ahead of us won this weekend, Connacht, Ulster and Leinster, so it was important we win and we got one point out of the game.
"For me the position we had worked ourselves into, in patches of the game I thought the boys played well and didn't get what they deserved out of it."
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