Leinster sank Bath at the Aviva Stadium as Leo Cullen's men brushed off the Covid problems that hit the camp on the eve of their Champions Cup opener.
With unnamed three senior players ruled out after testing Covid positive and one member of the backroom staff subsequently doing the same, there was reason for concern in the Blues set-up.
But a home tie to start with against the English Premiership's bottom side still felt like a handy starter for the province in their latest attempt to conquer Europe, and so it proved.
Bath were submerged by Leinster's at times chaotic but dangerous attack that came at the hapless visitors in wave upon wave in the first half, although Cullen will be somewhat perturbed by a lack of thrust from his replacements and a disappointing second half display that coughed up just two more tries.
A late opportunistic try for the visitors at the end of each half at least made the scoreline slightly more respectable, but Bath were very poor, and Cullen and Stuart Lancaster will know that more will be needed next week at Montpelier.
Beforehand, Cullen spoke of needing to seize the initiative given the problems that could yet come down the line in terms of Covid disruption.
Last year, the already condensed pool fixtures only got as far as the halfway stage before the tournament organisers EPCR went straight to the knock-outs.
Even so, having the bonus point fourth try wrapped up before the 25th minute mark was better than Cullen would have been hoping for.
He could allow his thoughts to turn quickly to the six-day turnaround for what promises to be a tough assignment in France next Friday night.
Bath did manage to score a try before the half-time whistle but by then they had conceded five and were fortunate not to have conceded seven.
Leinster led 31-13 at the interval and, with wholesale changes off the bench affecting momentum, there were seven tries in total for the home side for attendance of 25,403 to feast on during an early festive occasion.
In fact the game had started poorly for the four-time champions, with Jamison Gibson-Park - back in the side after a strong November with Ireland - kicking straight to touch having taken the ball back into his own 22.
Bath had a lineout deep in host territory and put the first points on the board from the boot of Orlando Bailey when Josh van der Flier was penalised.
However Leinster's first try followed in the fifth minute and came off their first attack, with Gibson-Park making swift amends.
The scrum-half, Ciarán Frawley - in at inside centre for Robbie Henshaw - Garry Ringrose and James Lowe combined, with Lowe releasing Gibson-Park to finish the move he started.
Ross Byrne missed the conversion but the Blues were quickly back on the warpath.
A Byrne penalty kick to the corner wasn't capitalised on but, from another in the 12th minute, Ryan Baird tapped down to Rhys Ruddock.
The skipper charged for the line and was brought down but the outstanding Tadhg Furlong was there to gather and score.
Bailey added a second penalty after Ringrose gathered the restart but was smothered by Bath men, but it proved only a brief respite as Leinster probed from right to left and back again before Lowe just about held Hugo Keenan's incisive pass and crossed the whitewash.
Byrne's conversion made it 19-6 and Bailey, with another penalty chance, missed this time from long range.
Max Deegan was a temporary replacement for Caelan Doris but Bath found themselves a man down for 10 minutes when Richard DeCarpentier was sin-binned.
Moments later, Leinster had their fourth try and bonus point as Lowe's lightning-quick hands released Keenan at full steam to score his first try in Europe, with Byrne adding the extras.
And a fifth was chalked up before Bath's flanker could return. Jordan Larmour was denied a superb try by inches as he raced onto Gibson-Park's grubber.
But Lowe kept the ball in play on the left wing in the 29th minute and, in spilling it backwards, Kelleher caught the visitors off-guard as he re-gathered and took off before Byrne found his half-back partner Gibson-Park, who finished the move.
There looked to be nowhere for Bath to go as they trailed 31-6 but out of nowhere they scored a try.
Josh Bayliss found hooker Jacques du Toit off his line-out and Leinster were flat-footed as du Toit scampered clear, knocking Larmour out of his way to score.
It was an unexpected end to an utterly dominant first half for the Blues but it was business as usual eight minutes into the second half following Josh van der Flier's barnstorming break.
Frawley was on hand to keep the attacking flowing and Gibson-Park's flicked inside ball to Kelleher flummoxed the Bath defence.
Kelleher was tripped but he got up and kept going and going over the try-line, despite Bath's desperate attempts to hold him up. Moments later, Kelleher and his front row colleagues Furlong and Andrew Porter were called to the safety of the stand.
Van der Flier got on the scoresheet in the 58th minute as he powered over and Byrne curled over his kick for two more points.
Tommy O'Brien came on for Byrne in the 62nd minute for his European debut - one of three handed out by Cullen.
But the game was to have only one more try, a 79th minute consolation for Bath courtesy of replacement Gabe Hamer-Webb's superb effort through the middle.
Ultimately their attempts to reach the half-century mark before the finish eluded Leinster, but despite the patchiness of the performances the hosts will be at least happy to have taken the five points on offer for starters.
Leinster: Hugo Keenan, Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose (Tommy O'Brien 60), Ciarán Frawley, James Lowe, Ross Byrne (Jimmy O'Brien 60), Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath 53); Andrew Porter (Cian Healy 49), Rónan Kelleher (Dan Sheehan 49), Tadhg Furlong (Michael Ala'alatoa 49), Ross Molony (Devin Toner 60), Ryan Baird, Rhys Ruddock (capt), Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.
Bath: Tom de Glanville (Tom Prydie 68), Semesa Rokoduguni, Will Butt, Max Ojomoh, Will Muir (Gabe Hamer-Webb 71), Orlando Bailey, Ben Spencer (Joe Simpson 68); Lewis Boyce (Arthur Cordwell 68), Jacques du Toit (T Dunn ht), Will Stuart (D'Arcy Rae 60), Josh McNally (Will Spencer 52), Charlie Ewels (capt), Tom Ellis, Richard DeCarpentier, Josh Bayliss (Ewan Richards 60).
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