Man-of-the-match O'Mahony: 'It's a special day playing alongside some of my best friends'

"It was unreal. Boys showing up everywhere. Tackles that probably shouldn't have been made. Plays that shouldn't have been made. Guys were fighting for each other and fighting for the cause."

Sat, 17 Nov, 2018 - 21:20

Stephen Barry

Man-of-the-match Peter O'Mahony has hailed "a special day playing alongside some of my best friends" as Ireland beat the All Blacks for a second time in three years.

In a first-ever home victory, Jacob Stockdale's try and some heroic try-saving interventions, including one from O'Mahony, were the difference in a 16-9 win.

"It's taken a while, 100-and-whatever years, but it's a special group of boys. It's an honour to take the field with them and it's a special day playing alongside some of my best friends," said O'Mahony on the full-time whistle on RTÉ2.

"We knew we had to be relentless, they're not the number one team in the world for the craic. We knew we had to play our best game of this squad's tenure.

"It was well up there with one of the best.

"It was unreal. Boys showing up everywhere. Tackles that probably shouldn't have been made. Plays that shouldn't have been made. Guys were fighting for each other and fighting for the cause.

"It's a big piece of history for us, it's one we wanted to tick off in Ireland. Happy days." https://t.co/0IMitsIxQF #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/JIL2fUaNLt
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) November 17, 2018