{"id":310338,"date":"2026-02-21T19:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310338\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T19:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T19:43:09","slug":"ireland-performance-against-england-right-up-there-with-one-of-the-best-weve-had-says-dan-sheehan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/310338\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland performance against England \u2018right up there with one of the best we\u2019ve had\u2019, says Dan Sheehan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dan Sheehan<\/a>\u2019s smile was broad. The try-scoring hooker was an omnipresent figure across a variety of duties during Ireland<\/a>\u2019s historic Six Nations<\/a> win over England<\/a>. He joined two former Ireland captains, Brian O\u2019Driscoll and Rory Best, behind a microphone to offer a few thoughts following Saturday\u2019s stunning 42-21 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re such a hungry group. We believe in ourselves a lot,\u201d he said. \u201cWe knew we had a lot of Irish support here. We tapped into it well and I think we came out of the blocks extremely well. That performance is right up there with one of the best we\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the players and coaches ignored the external misgivings and instead resolved to produce a performance that was representative of the work that they had been doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we stuck together really well and sort of ignored that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of belief in this group. Everybody that we need is in the group, and when we all come together, we can make these special things happen. To get a win in Twickenham and see this Irish crowd, it\u2019s pretty special.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StuartStuart McCloskey brushes off England’s Ollie Lawrence. Photograph: David Rogers\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Jamison Gibson-Park<\/a> was a deserved man-of-the-match, but Stuart McCloskey was within touching distance of the accolade. The centre produced a stunning display \u2013 unplayable in possession, at least for the England midfield, and immovable in defence, a bulwark against which the white hordes foundered. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know what to feel,\u201d McCloskey said after the win. \u201cIt\u2019s so soon after the game with, obviously, absolute elation. It was a great performance, I think. We proved a lot of people wrong. We probably proved to ourselves more importantly what we can do when we get stuff right.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of things didn\u2019t go right over the last two rounds. Some went well and we got it right. I thought we looked really good but just didn\u2019t really piece it all together. But I thought today we pieced together a lot of what we wanted to do together and I thought it was pretty good all round.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCloskey was asked about his lung-bursting chase to haul down Marcus Smith in the 73rd-minute, a moment that exemplified Ireland\u2019s attitude and determination. \u201cI probably ran back (with) hope more than expectation. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd as I got closer, it was like, \u2018oh flip, I\u2019m actually going to get him.\u2019 But yeah, I was absolutely cooked after it. I was basically a body bag for the last five minutes, but thankful the game was won. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one of the things we said going into the day. Be all in for everybody, be in every moment. That\u2019s the first minute, the 80th minute. As long as we fight for each other, whatever the result was, we\u2019d be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Twickenham win ranks up there with the great days of Andy Farrell\u2019s Ireland reignOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

So, where does the win place, personally? \u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d said McCloskey. \u201cSomeone was telling me it\u2019s the most we\u2019ve ever scored against England at (Twickenham). So, it\u2019s amazing. I didn\u2019t expect it at the start of the day, if I\u2019m being honest, but it was great. I think we put a lot of stuff together, as I said, and what a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recalling his Ireland debut, which came away to England in the 2016 Six Nations, he added: \u201cI probably didn\u2019t think I\u2019d still be here in 10 years, no matter how well it went. There are tough times in there, but I\u2019m glad I stuck at it to get to experience days like this now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a strange one. My body feels really good, as it has done for a while, but when you play more, you get more experience. I\u2019ve seen most of the things that can happen on the rugby field now. I probably have played the most professional games, or close to the most professional games, on our team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019m just confident in what I do. As long as my body stays in pretty good nick, I\u2019m pretty confident I can do this for a while longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StuartStuart McCloskey takes on England’s Ollie Lawrence. Photograph: Adam Davy\/PA <\/p>\n

Ireland were swept through the final quarter, serenaded by significant support from the stands. \u201cIt was nice. I didn\u2019t realise there were so many Irish fans here. It was class, it was great noise,\u201d said McCloskey.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough to really enjoy it, the game\u2019s probably won. If you\u2019re watching at home, you think the game was won but when you\u2019re playing, you\u2019re like, \u2018right, next moment, if we just get through this, there\u2019s no way they can win\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his recent green-streak with Ireland, he added: \u201cI said to myself a few years ago, I\u2019m just going to enjoy every game I get from now on. I haven\u2019t played as much as I would have liked over the years \u2013 not to turn my nose up at how many caps I have, but I would have loved more \u2013 and I think at the start, I probably didn\u2019t enjoy it. I was just feeling the pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, I take every chance I have and try to enjoy everything I do out here. It\u2019s amazing to do it in that jersey, what it represents and do it for the team that we have in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s honoured that commitment, and then some. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dan Sheehan\u2019s smile was broad. The try-scoring hooker was an omnipresent figure across a variety of duties during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[59241,61,60,1449,43,15551],"class_list":{"0":"post-310338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-england-rugby","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-ireland-rugby","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-six-nations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}