LIKE victorious county hurlers, these big men of Traditional took leave of a standing ovation on the home pitch, instruments triumphantly hoisted aloft. This concert was very much an account of their movements over 30 years, opening with a familiar O'Neill's Cavalcade.

A Galician tabor drum heralded the entry, Kevin Conneff's bodhran picked up the rhythmic theme and, in comfortable procession, Matt Molloy (flute), Sean Keane and Martin Fay (fiddles) and Derek Bell (harp, keyboards, piano) entered eight bars apart.

A rosy spotlight defined maestro Paddy Moloney (whistle, uilleann pipes) leading his veteran band and the terrific, battering step dancers, taking themselves back through a dozen and more albums and, film scores: Rob Roy, Circle of Friends, Ireland Moving - all familiar to pedants as mere tunes. Despite the programme music theme, the first half worked well - these players have a lot of jizz - and Carlos Nunez's pre interval entry on recorders and Galician bagpipe made it a complete and fine performance.

The Santiago theme of their latest album dominated the second half, using Conneff's tambourine, Nunez's accompanists and Spanish pop singer Angela Luz.

Disappointingly, it never came close to the Grammy nominated CD's life or passion, new compositions seeming too derivative and nonsequitur-ish. Yet, fine Baroque moments emerged with Bell's and Molloy's Fanny Poiver, while big orchestra splendour graced a Galician set. Basque militaristic Txistua shrillness was well evoked by whistle and recorder, and not even a bashy encore could beat the superb soloists' showcase that was built into Miss McLeod's reel.