DURING HIS POST-MATCH interview on RTÉ, player of the match Jack Conan was quick to point out the role of Ireland’s supporters in his side’s hard-fought Aviva Stadium victory over Wales on Saturday, and Rónan Kelleher wasn’t far behind him.

On a rare Test start, Kelleher was surely also worthy of consideration as the game’s MVP: he carried mightily, he was demonic at the attacking breakdown, he made a joint team-high 17 tackles, and he threw a perfect lineout.

Equally, he echoed Conan’s sentiments about the home crowd, which is often the subject of criticism, but which he felt remained invested in the game throughout and elevated Ireland’s efforts in several tight spots.

Kelleher noted post-game that more typically at the Aviva, “people are up and down to get pints — you can really notice it at the start of the game and then either side of half-time as well.

“So, I think today it was absolutely class from the crowd and it really helped us,” he added.

That being said, Kelleher did also politely acknowledge that the longer runway to pre-load pints ahead of a Friday-night kick-off — as opposed to the 2:10pm start against Italy three Saturdays earlier, for example — likely added to the general amplification.

“We could feel the energy from the crowd, which was obviously a massive help for us, especially during those long passages of play where we were obviously going round the corner and going round the corner and just kind of chucking it up. It allowed us a bit of an extra pep in our step, I suppose.

“But I think as well, the tightness of the game probably brought the crowd into it a bit more. I think they saw there was a bit of jeopardy there and that was obviously massive for us in the end.”

Many of them wouldn’t have expected such jeopardy — Ireland won by 10 points a game in which they were favoured by the oddsmakers to win by 25 or 26.

And yet, while their overall performance more closely mirrored that against Italy than the brilliance of Twickenham more recently, there existed a quiet satisfaction among Ireland’s players afterwards that they had conjured enough graft and craft to beat a side who pitched up with an excellent display of their own.

All week, they had expected more of the Welsh than most people in the stadium. And they got it.

“I think it’s very easy to get lulled into a false sense that you’re going to show up and do a job which will never, ever be the case, especially in this competition,” said Kelleher.

“Every game is so tough, so we were obviously happy getting the bonus point. We were all very aware we were a little bit inaccurate at times, especially in the 22 at converting that pressure to points, but all credit to them. They obviously defended really well and got some crucial poaches at some crucial times.

“Overall, we were very happy to get the win and the bonus points considering how difficult the Test match was.”

Onto Scotland, then, on a super Saturday on which the Six Nations trophy still has three potential destinations.

Naturally, Kelleher was speaking to the assembled media the night before the Scots set up their own title tilt. While he gushed about the “world-class” talent throughout their squad, he was reticent to divulge too much about the Scots with whom he worked and socialised on last summer’s Lions Tour to Australia.

“I remember Huw Jones, actually,” Kelleher said. “Lovely fella. That’s all I can assess on that one.” And that was it.

Given what’s on the line for Ireland and Scotland next Saturday — a Triple Crown, a whole lot of schadenfreude, and potentially even a Six Nations title in the event that France slip up against England — surely even another 2:10pm kick-off won’t dilute the atmosphere.

“We’re obviously really looking forward to next week now,” Kelleher said. “We’ve obviously put ourselves in a good position to win that Triple Crown. I think there’s still potentially a chance of us winning a championship as well, which is always obviously the number-one thing. “