Peter O’Mahony to decide on future after leading Ireland to Six Nations title

Ed Elliot, PA, Dublin

Peter O’Mahony said leading Ireland to the Six Nations title is “not a bad one to go out on” as he left question marks surrounding his international future.

Andy Farrell’s side retained the championship crown thanks to Saturday’s scrappy 17-13 success over Scotland in Dublin.

Reports emerged before the game that veteran Munster flanker O’Mahony was set to call time on his Test career following a 105th and final outing in the green jersey.

The 34-year-old, who made his Test debut in 2012, intends to take time before making a decision after helping Ireland bounce back from last week’s loss to England to celebrate St Patrick’s weekend in style.

Asked about his future, O’Mahony said: “I don’t know. I have a few chats to have with family and stuff the next couple of weeks and if it was my last one it’s not a bad one to go out on.

“(It’s been) one of the tougher weeks of my career for lots of different reasons.

“We weren’t happy with the performance last week when we knew we could do better. but we had a job to go and do and thankfully today we went out and did it against a seriously good Scottish side.

“I thought we showed loads of grit, I thought we showed ambition with the ball, in a damp, greasy environment and thought we played some good rugby and that middle 20 in the second half was massive for us.

 

“We spoke (at half-time) about getting stuck in, and we probably put a lot of lead in their legs, so we needed to get some reward for it.

“We just said we’d stay at it and keep going, and I thought the 10 minutes after half-time were really, really impressive.”

Ireland ended a sluggish first half 7-6 ahead thanks to Dan Sheehan’s opportunistic try, converted by Jack Crowley.

Andy Farrell’s men improved markedly in the second period and completed the job through Andrew Porter’s try and five further points from fly-half Crowley.

Huw Jones’ late consolation try, combined with eight points from Finn Russell, ensured a nervy final couple of minutes at the Aviva Stadium.

Tadhg Beirne, who celebrated his 50th cap in memorable fashion, is confident Munster team-mate O’Mahony will continue.

“No, I don’t think he will be (finishing),” Beirne said after the win.

“I think he will be here for another year. He’s certainly not lost it, so I don’t see why he wouldn’t keep going.

“None of us want to see him leave so I’m sure that’s a decision he’ll make over the next couple of weeks.

“But I’m sure we’ll see him in green again.”