Celtic League/Leinster v Munster reaction: Johnny Watterson listens to the measured reactions from both sides to last night's result at Lansdowne Road

Here we are at Lansdowne Road. A Magner's League match that has, early in October, managed to capture the imagination of 27,252 people, generate an edge and in the first 30 minutes show it all. Brian O'Driscoll try, a succession of shuddering tackles, two in the sin bin including the Leinster outhalf, Felipe Contepomi, who floored a second row. His status around Donnybrook is secure. Vital league points? Not a bit of it. There is always something in the air when these two sides meet and last night it was the first volley of Halloween fireworks.

"I thought Leinster were very clinical in attack. There were not many scoring opportunities but they took them," said Munster coach Declan Kidney before exploding the cliché. "All that is a myth about Munster forwards and Leinster backs. That's insulting to both sides."

With the autumn internationals looming, the Six Nations Championship around the corner, the 2007 World Cup on the horizon and Irish coach Eddie O'Sullivan's unflinching gaze on his players, last night's encounter was laced with the venom reserved for confrontations between players who know each others' shoe size. This was family settling old scores. A match where the players never failed to pull the trigger. Old vendettas to settle, new agendas to set, for Leinster at least.

With the rain intermittently unloading on its journey from Dublin city centre, Leinster set out to purge the gloom of their last meeting here when the Munster pack squeezed the life and Heineken European Cup hopes out them.

"I think Leinster took their chances. They moved the ball around and played very sensibly in the first half," said Munster flanker Alan Quinlan. "I'd say the critical try was probably Shane Horgan's. Making it 17-3, it stretched the gap. You have to give credit to them tonight, they were exceptional in the way they finished. When you give the likes of Denis Hickie, Brian O'Driscoll, Shane Horgan, Gordon D'Arcy all those guys space, then they'll exploit it. It's disappointing.

"I suppose after winning the Heineken Cup, we're a big scalp for any team. But these games are always intense and physical. I don't think Munster played up to scratch but a lot of credit to Leinster. We didn't play well but we weren't allowed to play well. Sure we were disrupted by a few injuries and most of our guys were only back last week. But that was the same as Leinster, so there's no excuse."

Too much can be read into undermining the European champions. That Leinster forwards matched Munster and their backs out ran them will salve some of the historical pains of losing, but not all are convinced it signals greater riches.

"There is no comparison between last year (European Cup) and tonight," said Leinster winger Denis Hickie. "This is a Magners League game. Both teams are at very different stages of the season. It was a different type of game. We won the points in the league but that's all we won. That's all it was . . . We were playing for the league points. We won the points and we're happy with that. Let's not talk about revenge and atonement. The games were not comparable."

For the man of the match O'Driscoll, the sweetness of the win oozed like the blood trickling down from a gash in his nose.

"We'd four good tries and we never let up," said the Irish captain. "It's one of the best performances I've played with a Leinster team for a long time. We said in the changing-room beforehand we had to win the personal battles and I think if you had to pick a 15 out of the 30 players out there, it would be 15 Leinster shirts."