O’Mahony hails ‘special group of guys’

Editor

Ireland flanker Peter O'Mahony hailed his team's performance as they edged an in-form England side 13-9 at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

O'Mahony, who was only called into the starting XV when Jamie Heaslip suffered an ankle injury in the warm-up, was a stand-out performer.

Ireland were clearly wounded after losing to Wales and deservedly came out on top to finish second in the table, which thrilled the back-row.

"It came from a special group of guys, we were disappointed with the way some of the results have gone but we knew deep down there’s a lot of heart there," the hard-working O'Mahony told RTÉ after the Dublin win.

"Fellas showing up for each other and fellas showing up for what is special to them, not just on the pitch but off it as well. It was a great performance.

"It [Cardiff] broke our hearts really. The support we have every time we come here and abroad is amazing and we let a lot of people down so thank you for today.

"It was a massive one for is, we needed to show everyone how much it meant to us and I think we did today."

Meanwhile, captain Rory Best was equally proud of his team and praised them for their courage to get over the disappointment of last week.

"We knew England are a massive side and we knew we’d have to produce a really big performance and there’s no doubt the boys fronted up," said the hooker.

"The crowd here as always was fantastic and just every time England got a bit of momentum, the crowd just lifted and it was a big lift for us to help stop that.

"We talked all week that it wasn’t about stopping them [England] doing anything, it was about us producing a performance worthy of this team, worthy of this crowd and worthy of the occasion it was and we’re very happy with that.

"We’ll look back on this campaign and aspects we weren’t happy with but that was a bit more like it. We didn’t let anyone down today."