At the end of the match as he sat slouched in his chair among the replacements having put in a nonstop 63 minute shift, the camera swung in.
As television captured the moment the winner of the man of the match award was announced around the stadium, the 23-year-old had the good grace to look sheepish and pull a self-conscious smile; Dan Sheehan’s face on the big screen in the Aviva Stadium.
His seventh cap, his second try, his first moment of individual glory in a packed ground drew a ripple of applause. For a player who made his international debut just last November, Sheehan has seamlessly bedded in, initially as a replacement for the injured Ronan Kelleher and now as the main man in the shirt.
Kelleher knows he has some reclamation to do in the hooker position when he returns to play.
Sheehan’s game was almost flawlessly simple from the first accurate lineout throw in the fourth minute to his 15th in the 57th minute. All of them, bar one that was aimed at Tadhg Beirne at the back of an offensive formation seven yards out and nicked by Scotland’s Sam Skinner, hit their mark.
If nerves are part of the equation for playing against Scotland at home for a Triple Crown decider, they were not on show with Sheehan, each throw metronomic and hitting the spot.
In the scrum, referee Wayne Barnes, who was freely dispensing advice and plaudits - “very good scrum,” he said to Irish prop Cian Healy in the second half- marked Sheehan’s cards in the sixth minute on scrum engagement.
“Don’t forget the brake foot,” said Barnes after the first had crumpled but play was allowed to continue. From then on, as Andy Farrell said afterwards, Ireland rolled with the punches to finish with the most points scored, the least points conceded and the most tries with 24 to 17 from winners France.
Sheehan’s try after 17 minutes added to those numbers after he followed up on his fourth lineout. Most of the throws went to Iain Henderson, or, Beirne, this one hitting the Ulster lock.
Sheehan immediately joined the push towards Scotland’s line and peeled off from close in. There was just the slightest of gaps between outhalf Blair Kinghorn and Glasgow tighthead prop Zander Fagerson. That is where Sheehan made his punch.
Far from the traditional modest outhalf dimensions, Kinghorn who was picked instead of Finn Russell, is 6’4’’ and weighs over 16 stone to Sheehan’s 6’3’’ and 17.5 stone. Neither could stop the Irish hooker, his short burst of acceleration quickly generated enough momentum to crash through the defensive tonnage and over the line.
It was all the more satisfying because that is why Sheehan is in the Irish team. The modern hooker role is to be an everyman, be sound in the scrums and accurate in the lineouts. But the energy sapping work was everything else and Sheehan’s role was as to be an ever-moving piece of tackling and ball carrying kit.
By half-time Ireland had earned eight lineouts and Sheehan had hit his mark every time
He took up positions on the shoulders of the centres and was sometimes trailing Johnny Sexton to take on the ball and make those extra yardage gains. He did huge amounts of lateral running and on a few occasions was also the chaser in Ireland’s chase kick option.
For Healy’s try in the 27th minute, it was Sheehan who took the ball on in the Scotland 22, just a few phases before the loosehead touched down. When he did, it was the Irish hooker behind giving the extra shove to Healy’s well timed lunge forward.
Less than a minute before that, it was Sheehan chasing onto the ball after a Sexton chip over the Scotland defence and into the 22. The hooker was the first Irish player up to put the pressure on flanker Rory Darge.
Five minute before half-time when Pierre Schoeman body-surfed in under Irish defenders for Scotland’s try, Sheehan again was again at hand. His body, however, was on top of another Irish player and without leverage to stop Schoeman, the Scotland prop doing well to stretch over the line underneath a tangle of players.
By half-time Ireland had earned eight lineouts and Sheehan had hit his mark every time. It was on 54 minutes for an attacking Irish lineout that Skinner flicked the only one to Scotland’s side. But just three minutes later, the pressure was back on.
Sexton chose to kick a penalty to touch with Sheehan finding Peter O’Mahony. Again coming in around the back, it is Josh van der Flier feeding his hooker the ball for more yardage gain. Sheehan is stopped but Jamison Gibson Park picks the ball to van der Flier for the flanker to dash in for the third Irish try.
It was around the 62 minute mark when Sheehan walked to the far touch line, his socks rolled down and bent over on the turf during a stoppage in play. From the near side of the pitch management could see his race was run as he stretched his hamstrings and Achilles, perhaps feeling tightness or cramp coming on. By then replacement Rob Herring was on his feet and ready to make perhaps the most thundering tackle of the match on the charging Scotland fullback Stuart Hogg.
But Sheehan had left his mark. Confrontational and powerful, he straggled off. Just another day at the office.
