Joe McCarthy: 'We didn’t probably expect to get such a high score'
NO ORDINARY JOE; Joe McCarthy of Ireland with his parents Joe and Paula, and brother Andrew after his side's victory. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
Even Joe McCarthy seemed surprised by the nature of Ireland’s victory against France in Marseille.
The Boys in Green made the perfect start to the defence of their Six Nations and Grand Slam crowns as they defeated Les Beus 38-17 on Friday night.
For his efforts, McCarthy was named the player of the match and speaking shortly after full time, the beaming Leinster man could hardly believe his side racked up such a high score, scoring five tries to seal a bonus point triumph against a talented French team.
“I’ve very happy like, it’s never easy away in France,” began McCarthy.
“We didn’t probably expect to get such a high score but I’m really happy.
“The atmosphere was mental. Everyone really dug in, and it was a fantastic team performance. Our set piece went well, we won our line-out ball, got a good strike off that… we’re just in sync as a team. Everyone kind of played their part so it was fantastic.
“France are never dead. You see that today. They got a few scores there and they can chuck the ball. We stayed on them at every play and keep going after them, keep playing.
Jack Crowley was tasked at helping to fill the void created by the retiring Johnny Sexton and McCarthy described his performance in the number 10 shirt as “unbelievable.”
“He’s an absolute baller,” he added.
“I’ve played with him at the U20s, he’s such a competitor. Great man to lead the group, great fella so I’m delighted. He played unbelievable; he drove us around the pitch.”
Captain Peter O’Mahony also had his say on Ireland’s significant victory although initially he was struggling to find the words.
“It’s hard to sum up,” said the Corkman.
“It was a serious test match. I’ve very proud of the lads with the way we controlled the game. Cool under certain decisions, composed, it got a bit frantic the last 10 minutes, down to 14 with my yellow card.
"But we stayed with the plan all the time, we didn’t get carried away with positive or negative moments, so I thought it was a good start, good performance.
“I think a big chunk of it was the young fellas. Guys like Calvin Nash, Jack, big Joe, some big, big performances from guys getting their opportunity.
“It’s hard to pick a few guys out but I thought it was a good start.
“At times I thought we let a couple of opportunities go. There was a couple of silly penalties on our part when we just needed to be a little bit more disciplined.
“But I think this whole game is about taking your opportunities – you know what I mean – and against sides as good as France are, they don’t come around very often.
“I thought more often than not tonight, we took those opportunities quite well.
Finally, asked about Ireland taking a big step towards winning back-to-back Grand Slams, O’Mahony added: “Look, we’re not going to be getting carried away here.
“We have certainly gained a bit of momentum, good performance which is always what you want to start off with in a campaign like this.
"We will go an analyse it and we want to get better. That’s what we want to do and kick on.”
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