Scotland 6 Ireland 36
Ireland destroyed their Murrayfield jinx in style this afternoon, brushing aside Scotland to kick off their Six Nations campaign in style.
Stand-in flyhalf David Humphreys capped a match-winning performance with Ireland's third try of the afternoon as the visitors claimed their first victory in Edinburgh since 1985 and extended their winning run of Tests to a record seven matches.
"This has been a long time in coming - 18 years," said winning captain Brian O'Driscoll. "It's very satisfying to lay that ghost to rest. This is a great start for us."
Humphreys was only playing because Ronan O'Gara was injured but he seized his opportunity with relish, kicking five penalties and three conversions as well as taking advantage of a demoralised Scots defence to touch down between the posts, seven minutes from the end.
"We prepared well for this and knew the record had to end some time. We took our chances and put in lots of hard work," Humphreys reflected.
Wingers Denis Hickie and Geordan Murphy, a first half substitute for Shane Horgan, were Ireland's other try scorers in a match in which they always looked comfortable against a Scotland side that displayed none of the verve they had shown in their November win over South Africa.
Ireland, in contrast, fully lived up to their billing as a side potentially capable of creating an upset against the tournament favourites England and France, both of whom must visit Dublin later in the campaign.
Scotland had almost taken the lead inside the first thirty seconds after a charged down Irish clearance resulted in the ball bouncing off the crossbar.
A scramble under the posts ensued but after consultation with the fourth official, Australian referee Andrew Cole ruled that a Scots hand had knocked on before the touchdown.
That was to prove the closest Scotland came to a try all afternoon and Humphreys got the show on the road by kicking an eighth minute penalty after Scotland's New Zealand-born centre Brendan Laney was caught offside.
With neither side able to establish much rhythm, the match briefly developed an unpleasantly bruising edge and Laney was lucky to escape without any sanction after flooring O'Driscoll with a dangerously high tackle in the 19th minute.
O'Driscoll, a thorn in Scot's side throughout, took his revenge ten minutes later with a surge through the heart of the Scots defence that carried him to within two yards of the line.
Scrumhalf Reggie Corrigan was quick to pounce and feed Hickie, who went over wide on the right for a try that Humphreys did well to convert.
Scotland responded with a good period of pressure but Humphreys kicked another penalty three minutes before the break to extend the Irish lead to 13-0.
Ireland extended their lead six minutes into the second period with another Humphreys penalty.
Scotland finally got off the mark two minutes later when Gordon Ross kicked a long-range penalty that triggered another phase of sustained pressure from the home side.
But again a combination of resilient defending and some poor handling by the Scots backs ensured that their best period of the match yielded only a second penalty for Ross.
When Humphreys responded with his fourth penalty of the afternoon, the Scots were effectively dead and buried but Murphy's 80-yard breakaway for Ireland's second try put the issue beyond any doubt.
With the Scots visibly demoralised Humphreys was then able to cap a memorable afternoon with his own touchdown to leave himself with an easy conversion and a haul of 26 points.
Looking back on a hugely satisfying afternoon's work O'Driscoll said: "It would have meant four tough matches ahead if we'd woken up tomorrow to read in the papers that we'd lost.
"We played very well for the first 20 minutes, then took our foot off the pedal before coming back strongly again in the last third of the match.
"It was satisfying that we didn't concede a try, we've been working hard on our defence."
Asked about the high tackle he said: "There was nothing intentional about it so no hard feelings - I'll have to count my teeth tomorrow!"
Scorers
ScotlandPenalties: Ross (2)
IrelandTries: Hickie, Murphy, Humphreys; Penalties: Humphreys (5);Conversions: Humphreys (3)
Scotland:Glenn Metcalfe; Kenny Logan, Andy Craig, Brendan Laney, ChrisPaterson; aGordon Ross, Bryan Redpath (capt.); Simon Taylor, AndrewMower, Martin Leslie, Stuart Grimes, Scott Murray, Bruce Douglas,Gordon Bulloch, Tom Smith
Replacements used: Gavin Kerr, Gregor Townsend
Replacements not used: Steve Scott, Nathan Hines, Ross Beattie,Mike Blair, Kevin Utterson
Ireland: Girvan Dempsey; Shane Horgan, Brian O'Driscoll (capt.), KevinMaggs, Denis Hickie; David Humphreys, Peter Stringer; Anthony Foley,Keith Gleeson, Victor Costello, Malcolm O'Kelly, Gary Longwell, JohnHayes, Shane Byrne, Reggie Corrigan
Replacements used: Geordan Murphy, Leo Cullen, Alan Quinlan,Frank Sheahan, Guy Easterby, Paul Burke, Marcus Horan