Such was the dominance enjoyed by Joe Schmidt's men they had the bonus point wrapped up after just 25 minutes - Richardt Strauss, Ian Madigan, Jamie Heaslip and Dave Kearney crossing in a devastating opening spell.

Heaslip added another, with Cian Healy, Jordi Murphy, Damian Browne and Fionn Carr all adding their names to the scoresheet on a clinical evening in Dublin.

The only sour point of the victory for Leinster was the ankle injury to O'Driscoll, which forced him off the field after 22 minutes.

Cardiff rallied in the second half with Alex Cuthbert, Leigh Halfpenny and Tom James crossing, but it was not enough to avoid a fourth successive league defeat.

The reigning European champions started in emphatic style, Kearney tearing away on a 40-yard dash to take Leinster within inches of the tryline, before Strauss powered over from close range with Sexton adding the extras.

Cardiff barely had time to get their breath back when they had conceded another, Fergus McFadden racing down the left and offloading wide for Ian Madigan to race over for the second try of the evening, Sexton again adding the extras.

Leinster looked to be in formidable form and Halfpenny's 11th-minute penalty was the only points they allowed the visitors all half, the Wales full-back finding the target from the right touchline.

Ireland captain O'Driscoll was the architect for the third try, breaking through Cardiff's backline and feeding the ball wide - allowing Heaslip to touch down in the corner.

Sexton's kick made it 21-3, taking him past the tally of 500 league points in his 98th Leinster appearance.

Though O'Driscoll limped off shortly afterwards Leinster did not let up, Kearney breaking through a static Cardiff backline after 25 minutes to secure the bonus point - with Sexton making no mistake with the boot.

Leinster added another five minutes later, their pack driving the Blues back to the line with Heaslip sneaking from the side of the maul to dive over.

They crossed for a sixth just before half-time, Healy barging over from close range - sending the teams in with a 40-3 scoreline after a rare Sexton miss.

There was no let up for Cardiff after the break, Murphy crashing through for a try just two minutes into the half, with Sexton converting his sixth from seven attempts.

Though trailing by 44 points the visitors battled back, enjoying a ten minute spell of pressure which eventually resulted in a score - Wales wing Cuthbert evading two Leinster tackles to score in the corner.

But three minutes later Leinster added an eighth try -Browne released out wide from Madigan's clever pass to go over unopposed, with Sexton again finding target to extend the lead to 54-8.

Cardiff then enjoyed their best spell of the game and added two tries in seven minutes, Halfpenny crossing just after the hour mark before Tom James latched on to Williams' kick to bring the score back to 54-22.

But if Cardiff had hopes of securing a bonus point they were denied by the home side, who saved the best until last with a breathtaking ninth try with the final action of the game.

To cap a superb evening with the boot Sexton fired an inch-perfect cross field chip for Carr, who broke through a tackle to touch down and seal a 59-22 victory.