The big forward made the most of early opportunities kicking the GIANTS first three goals of the game.
Ironically, it was a similar injury suffered by teammate Jon Patton that opened a spot in the team for O'hAilpin and he admitted there were a few nerves going in to the game against Melbourne.
"There's always nerves going into a game after 12 months lay off and just hoping that the knee would pull up fine which it did," Setanta said.
O'hAilpin added to his tally in the third quarter with two more goals, the first of which came from a strong contested mark.
Despite his successful return, O'hAilpin was disappointed with the loss and attention has already turned to the round 5 game against the Gold Coast Suns at Star Track Oval in Canberra.
"I'm really looking forward to the game and hopefully we get our first win of the year," O'hAilpin said.
The GIANTS recorded their first ever win against the Suns at StarTrack Oval in Canberra in 2012 and will be looking to repeat the effort when they meet again this week.
