In the same competition, at the same ground – Lansdowne Road – O’Meara kicked five penalties to maintain Leinster’s lead of Pool Three.

They did it the hard way, however, after throwing away a 17-3 lead and enduring over 40 scoreless minutes.

Cardiff’s day began well with the signings of pack powerhouses Matt Cockbain and Martyn Madden as well as their board’s rejection of a merger with the Celtic Warriors, looked set to continue.

They turned around the deficit to level with tries from Jim Brownrigg and Craig Quinnell.

Leinster out-half Matt Leek, called up in the afternoon following a flare up of Christian Warner’s quad injury, got his first Heineken Cup try in the third minute under Brownrigg’s challenge in the corner.

Cardiff hit back eight minutes later with their first assault into Leinster territory, a 20-metre drive before out-half Nick Robinson slotted over a penalty.

O’Meara notched his first penalty as Leinster began to attack the gain line in the 13th minute.

And following an early jump by lock Andy Moore at a lineout on the Blues’ 22, the Leinster scrum-half moved his cup tally past 60 points with another penalty.

Another Moore infringement and a loose hand by his second-row partner Quinnell saw O’Meara punish Cardiff further with two more penalties for a 14-point lead, and 10 minutes of inactivity for Quinnell in the sin bin.

What followed could prove to be Leinster’s undoing in the Heineken Cup this year as they crucially allowed Cardiff to hit back before half-time.

A poor display of defensive kicking from full-back Girvan Dempsey allowed the Welsh into Leinster territory for just the second time in the half.

Cardiff captain Martyn Williams tapped a quick five-metre penalty to put Brownrigg over for his try on 38 minutes.

Just as Leinster attempted to recover, a fourth turnover of possession in Cardiff territory saw them lose ground and watch helplessly as the returning Quinnell rode in on the back of front row John Yapp’s pick-and-drive to ground for Cardiff’s second try in injury time.

Nick Robinson’s brace of conversions had given the Blues an unlikely share of the lead at the break, at 17-17 and they would have taken the lead had the out-half held possession under Keith Gleeson’s shuddering tackle three minutes after the restart.

A third Cardiff breakaway was smothered out as centre Shanklin and full-back Rhys Williams knocked on with nine minutes remaining and the Leinster line in sight.

But O’Meara struck at the death to move the home side seven points clear of second-placed Biarritz.