Andy Dunne put the years of injury misery behind him at Stradey Park last night in front of Ireland coach Warren Gatland as he steered Leinster to a stunning victory.

Leinster's rugged defence had kept them in touching distance of their dangerous hosts throughout a compelling game and it was Dunne's boot which kept his side in touch.

But when the former Irish under-21 outhalf saw half a chance to show his running skills he went dashing out of his 22, dummied his way over to halfway and then sent wing John McWeeney racing to the right corner for a breathtaking try.

That score made it 17-17 and Dunne then completed the job in style, kicking the touchline conversion.

There may have been 10 minutes, plus injury time, to play but there was simply no way back for a shattered Llanelli who had spent all night running into a brick wall Leinster defence.

They did manage to muster a drop goal position for Wales outhalf Stephen Jones in the second minute of injury time; but his 40 metres effort drifted just wide.

Llanelli centre Leigh Davies broke the kicking duel between Jones and Dunne in the first half with a try after 18 minutes. Other than that, the 11-9 interval advantage enjoyed by the home side was down to two penalties to Jones against two from Dunne and a smart drop goal from his opposite number.

The outhalves were at it again at the start of the second half, with Jones dropping a goal before swapping penalties with Dunne, but Dunne had the last laugh..

LLANELLI: B Davies, W Proctor, N Boobyer, L Davies, S Finau, S Jones, capt , G Easterby, M Madden, M Thomas, J Davies, V Cooper, C Gillies, S Easterby, I Boobyer, D Hodges. Replacements:

LEINSTER: P McKenna, J McWeeney, A Magro, S Horgan, G D'arcy, A Dunne, D Willis, R Corrigan, capt, S Byrne, P Coyle, T Brennan, L Cullen, A McCullen, L Toland, E Miller. Replacements: M O'Kelly for T Brennan (62 mins); K Gleeson for L Toland (75 mins); G Dempsey for P McKenna (75 mins).

Referee: C White (RFU).