O'Gara sums up Ireland's season

"It flew really ugly but flew really straight and that is all that matters," Irish flyhalf Ronan O'Gara said after the dramatic 17-15 win over Wales at the Millennium stadium.

O'Gara is one of a gifted generation of Irish players who must have feared their time had gone as the years slipped by without even a championship, let alone a grand slam.

But from the start of the year there was clear evidence that Ireland were prepared to do whatever was necessary in their quest for their first championship since 1985.

Ireland gave their finest all-round performance of the season in the opening 30-21 win over France at Croke Park and Italy proved troublesome for an hour before capitulating 38-9 in Rome.

The real test of character came with the visit of England.

Ireland played ugly in eking out a 14-13 win with their remarkable captain Brian O'Driscoll scoring a try and dropping a goal and then ground out a 22-15 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield.

Then came the Wales match and a gladiatorial contest of brilliance and brutality in the perfect climax to the championship won by O'Gara's drop goal.

O'Driscoll, the man-of-the-match after scoring his fourth try of the tournament, told reporters O'Gara had delivered an impassioned speech to the backs on the morning of the match.

"Ronan speaks very passionately. He took the backs aside and had everybody's attention, 100 per cent of everybody's concentration," O'Driscoll said.

"Ronan has had some great highs but some lows too. He showed great strength of character to come back and knock that drop goal over."

Welsh flyhalf Stephen Jones threatened to snatch victory with a drop goal which put his side ahead and a penalty deep into injury time which flew straight but fell short.

The referee's whistle blew immediately afterwards, prompting delirious celebrations from the massed ranks of green-clad Irish supporters.

"We could have lost at the death so the shock factor set in for a few seconds and then over the next few minutes we enjoyed the elation with team-mates, ones you've put your body on the line for," O'Driscoll said.

O'Driscoll is one of three undisputably great Irish backs to grace the game, following in the footsteps of Jackie Kyle and Mike Gibson.

Kyle, a gloriously talented flyhalf who played in the 1948 side, watched from the stands on Saturday on a warm spring evening.

So, too, did the son of the Irish prop John Daly who scored the try which won the 1948 championship against Wales in Belfast.

"I'm completely drained," Mike Daly told Reuters. "I feel like I have gone all the 80 minutes with them. Dad would have been proud."