HEINEKEN CUP POOL 3 Cardiff Blues (9) 19: Try: Shanklin Con: Harris Pens: Harris 4. Leinster (13) 24: Tries: McWeeney, Gleeson Con: O'Meara Pens: O'Meara 4.

Leinster claimed a precious away win at the Arms Park on Friday as the Blues experienced more Heineken Cup frustration.

Last week the Welsh side lost narrowly at Sale and again came up narrowly short of claiming an upset victory.

Leinster scrum-half Brian O'Meara and Blues fly-half Iestyn Harris matched each other in the place-kicking stakes, but the Irish pack always had the upper hand.

It had looked good for the Welsh when Tom Shanklin hit back to cancel out John McWeeney's early try.

But man-of-the match Keith Gleeson charged down a Harris kick to score the decisive try soon after half-time.

Usually a loss at home is a terminal set-back for any side's quarter-final ambitions, but the Blues salvaged another bonus point in defeat to keep some hope alive.

The heavy rain dictated that two of the tournament's more exciting running sides had to put boot to ball more often than either would have wished.

Our experienced players showed a lot of composure on an awful night Leinster coach Gary Ella

It was the home side who opened the scoring after 10 minutes, Harris striking a penalty after his clever kick to the corner had left Leinster with no room to manouevre.

However, the Wales centre, playing at fly-half for his club, undid his good work by holding onto the ball on the floor in his own 22, giving O'Meara a simple shot at goal to level.

The visitors then went ahead when the Blues made a mess of a defensive ruck, allowing Leinster to steal the ball and send wing McWeeney over on the right for a converted try.

But the Blues marched upfield to present Harris with his second penalty success of the night, then swiftly added his third to narrow the gap to 9-10.

It was the visitors who had the final say of the half though, O'Meara kicking his second penalty to make it 9-13 at half-time after Blues skipper Martyn Williams killed the ball.

McWeeney put Leinster on the front foot from the restart, jinking through midfield and taking the Irish from their 22 into the opposition's.

We gave away silly penalties and just didn't take our opportunities Blues skipper Martyn Williams

O'Meara once more converted pressure into points as the Blues were forced to concede a kickable penalty.

Harris replied with a penalty but then dawdled over a clearance kick, allowing Ireland flanker Gleeson to charge down the ball and go over for an unconverted try.

In past Heineken Cup campaigns this was the point that the old Cardiff would now fade away, but the new Blues version is made of sterner stuff.

The Welsh marched upfield, were briefly denied by some superb Leinster defence, but eventually fashioned the space on the left for Tom Shanklin to go over in the corner.

Harris may have been struggling with his tactical kicking but he had the touch with the ball placed, popping over a fine conversion to reduce the deficit to 19-21.

But once more O'Meara booted Leinster further away with his fourth penalty to give the Irish a match-winning lead.

Blues: R Williams; T Shanklin, J Robinson, M Allen, C Morgan; I Harris, R Powell; J Yapp, G Williams, D Crompton, C Quinnell, A Moore, D Baugh, M Williams (capt), N Thomas.
Replacements: B Evans, L Phillips, H Senekal, J Brownrigg, A Moore, N Robinson, N Walne.

Leinster Lions: G Dempsey; J McWeeney, B O'Driscoll, S Horgan, G D'Arcy; C Warner, B O'Meara; R Corrigan (capt), S Byrne, P Coyle, M O'Kelly, B Gissing, E Miller, K Gleeson, V Costello.
Replacements: D Molloy, G Hickie, D Dillon, S Jennings, B O'Riordan, D Quinlan, B Burke.

Referee: Joel Jutge (France).