MAGNERS LEAGUE GRAND FINAL:Fullback Rob Kearney is safe under the high ball, but he is also well-versed in Leinster's running game, writes JOHNNY WATTERSON

THERE HE IS, Rob Kearney down beside the pitch at Old Wesley. He's making the television cameras love him. He's smiling in the sun. Sinéad Kissane from TV3 is grinning. Radio is lined up to the side. Everyone is looking. Kearney stares at the camera directly through heavy eyebrows.

He stands straight and walks with all of his six feet one inch, 15-stone frame; talks with certainty and plays with a mix of fearlessness and swagger.

Before one of Leinster's big Heineken Cup matches earlier in the season Jonathan Sexton was taken from the RDS and around to the Four Seasons Hotel for a television interview.

Sitting in the Ice Bar, hang-out of the D4 luvvies, Sexton was asked if it was his sort of place. He shook his head and said "no" before blurting out "Heaslip and Kearney". They owe him one for that.

Kearney also knows what he needs to know about Ospreys fullback Lee Byrne. Picked for the first Lions Test against South Africa in Durban in 2009, Byrne hobbled off with a foot problem before a "freak" accident to his thumb in training ended his tour.

Kearney stepped in, scored a try in the second Test and . . . well, the Leinster and Ireland fullback has never been afraid to step up.

By his own admission Kearney has had disappointment this season as well as big performances.

His head to head with Byrne should provide one of the interesting cameos in a Magners League final that has the potential to produce a classic running game. Ball carriers on both sides provide potential on an open canvas but with Byrne and Kearney in key positions as well as Ospreys outhalf Dan Biggar and his Leinster opposite number Sexton, a kicking game is just as likely.

Coincidentally, Biggar's other main love in life is tennis, although Kearney reads him as preferring to "poke the corners" than go "contestable" in the air.

"Yeah, well that's the way the game is going these days," he says. "You kick ball from your own half and then when you get into the opposition half, you try and utilise the ball you have to try and score.

"They do kick a huge amount. They rarely play ball from their own 22. Obviously, Lee Byrne has a pretty big kick on him so we'll be trying to keep the ball away from him and maybe try to exploit the small winger on the left-hand side."

Kicking to Shane Williams, the "small winger on the left" is a provocative invitation to counter attack but even tongue in cheek, Kearney would prefer to contest one of his trademark high balls under the mercurial winger or fullback rather than Tommy Bowe, another who has successfully married his GAA intuitions with capably fetching a Garryowen.

Kearney has always backed himself and collectively Leinster, and also thinks that way even when Ospreys arrive heavily-armed. "They're an awesome side," says Kearney.

"They've a huge amount of internationals, talent right across the board. Their backrow is up there with the best in the competition, as is their back three.

"They've got centres who can create things from nothing. They're dangerous right across the board. They play off quick ball. Phillips will be a huge threat.

"Obviously, Marty Holah can create a lot of disruption at the breakdown so we need to be on to him, if we want to get some quick ball - or any ball at all. Give them space and time on the ball and they can do damage to you."

The call to kick or run will come down to him. In that respect he can shape the game like Sexton, although positionally, Girvan Dempsey gets credit for taking him under his wing as a fledgling.

Comfortable off his left boot or taking contact, the responsibility rests with him and not Michael Cheika.

"Defensively, positional play was where I lacked most and it was through him (Dempsey) I looked to gain a huge amount in that area," he explains.

And if his pack is in a heap on one side of the pitch, Kearney's unlikely to trigger an isolated run up the other wing.

"Here (Leinster), it's left up to the player a huge amount," he says.

"We're responsible for our own actions. Kicking plays would never be too much indented on the game plan. Fullback, it's a position where you need to convey a huge amount of confidence as well as experience, because the 14 boys in front of you need to always be sure they can trust you. Having a level of experience, or even portraying that you have, is quite important."

Solidity and consistency, he says, define a fullback, make for a long career. But Kearney will look for more. He always has and you'll see it in the first high ball. Kearney, Byrne and maybe Bowe sailing through the air. . . Lights. Camera. Action.

"Lee Byrne has a pretty big kick on him so we'll be trying to keep the ball away from him and exploit the small winger on the left-hand side