Halfpenny kicked 27 points with his nine penalties a Scarlets record in one game as the Wales and British & Irish Lions full-back overtook the previous milestone jointly held by current Wales assistant coaches Stephen Jones and Byron Hayward.
But despite a sensational individual performance from the 31-year-old, the Scarlets let slip a 14-point lead with a last-gasp Ben Healy penalty allowing Munster to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat after a converted try from replacement hooker Kevin O’Byrne a few minutes earlier.
“It was a superhuman effort from Halfpenny,” said Scarlets head coach Delaney.
“Whenever we attacked we received a penalty and Leigh kicked nine of them. It just goes to show you’re going to get your chances against a team like Munster.
“We took every point that was given to us. I don’t think I’ve come across anyone who works as hard as he (Halfpenny) does on his craft.
“It’s not by accident. A lot of hard work goes into it and that’s why he’s a world-class performer.
“He’s a massive threat and it’s an issue for opposing head coaches. They’re on notice if they give penalties away that we have a guy that can convert them.
“What we have is a phenomenal goal kicker, but I think his general rugby is of such a high quality too. It would be remiss to say it’s just about his goal kicking.”
Delaney was predictably frustrated by the Scarlets’ inability to close out the game, especially as Munster were down to 14 men after captain Peter O’Mahony was sent off for two yellow cards.
He said: “We gave up too many points at a key time and we didn’t manage the back end of the game well enough.
“I think the red card happened and perhaps that changed our focus. I think for us we got a little too enthusiastic.
“I’d like to think we’d done enough to close that one out.
“I think the pleasing thing is 95 per cent of what we are doing went really well and that last period was a sucker punch which hurts a lot because we certainly felt we set the game up well enough to see it home.”
