If Eddie O'Sullivan was a futures dealer he would have been lounging back in his chair with a fat cigar, blowing smoke at the press, saying "I told you so."

He would have been back-slapping with his hit team, luxuriating in good times. The first million, he'd be saying, is always the best.

But that's not O'Sullivan's style. Straight back, leaning forward to the microphone, tie and blazer immaculate, the rookie coach managed his first post-test match conference without smiling. Quite a feat when you've just stuck 54 points on Wales and beaten the previous coach Warren Galtland's 36-6 record win over the same opposition. But the dry humour was in evidence.

"I'd have taken 1-0 at ten to two this afternoon, the way the wind was blowing," was his opener.

And what about the first try Eddie, the David Walllace combination with Geordan Murphy - was it a set piece, he was asked.

"We do practise things you know," quipped the coach. "It was all done on the training ground. It was a good trailer. You put guys in holes and run trailers off them."

Well, O'Sullivan had lost everyone with that piece of technospeak, but his mood was positive and typically self-contained. Flanked by captain Mick Galwey, assistant Declan Kidney and manager Brian O'Brien, the prevailing mood was one of satisfaction rather than celebration.

"I thought Wales had a much better team coming here and I thought conditions were going to turn it into a lottery," he said.

"It was a question of starting well and controlling the ball. If we didn't do that anything could have happened."

Gatland's name has always been in the background. Faced with the challenge of overseeing four wins in this championship to avoid negative comparisons with the sacked Kiwi coach, O'Sullivan was under pressure to vindicate his selection as successor.

"Certainly it was very important to get off to a good start," he said. "The team had been doing very well in the autumn, it was important to continue on that line.

"In the back of your mind you don't want to set it (a win) out there as the most important thing, you want to focus on a good performance. And if you perform well you might actually win. I don't think Wales did badly, I'd say we didn't let them do very well."

Expectations were that Ireland would win despite the excellent record Wales have had at Lansdowne Road over the last 10 years (they won four from five matches before yesterday). It had been bearing down on the squad.

"Building up all week, we talked about consistency over the 80 minutes of a performance. I think we got that, but we got a bit tired with 15 minutes to go. I think that was down to the fact that most of the team had played in the European Cup (a week) beforehand and the legs were getting tired," said O'Sullivan.

"But we got some fresh legs on the field and took over again. So in a nutshell, consistency over 80 minutes, both when we had the ball and we hadn't got it - that's the most gratifying thing about today."

Mike Ford, the former rugby league player who recently arrived to help out on the defensive side of Ireland's play, was singled out as having already had a positive influence.

"To be fair to Wales I think we defended well. I was very happy about that aspect. Mike Ford has come on board as defensive coach. He's put a lot of effort in and the guys have responded well. Today you saw the fruits of that labour.

"I think we made Wales work very hard for their gain. Sometimes you can only play as well as opponents let you, and to be fair we didn't give them much room to operate. We could look as bad as Wales if they did that to us."

O'Sullivan left with the demeanour of a man who needed a quick pint but who's real love lay with the video recorder and a re-run of Ireland's most prolific win ever against Wales. It remained with Galwey to put it in perspective.

"Today we were missing three Lions - Woody (Keith Wood), Malcolm O'Kelly and Eric Miller, and Shane Horgan was also missing. There's great competition for places and that keeps everyone honest."