Dan Sheehan’s hat-trick sees off Italy to keep Ireland’s Six Nations hopes alive

The destiny of the title was out of Irish hands but there was a point to prove – not to mention a handful of legendary careers in green to be celebrated. Thousands of Ireland supporters booked a St Patrick’s weekend sojourn to Rome hoping to see their tribe seal three consecutive titles. After a sobering defeat by France top spot looked out of reach: a bonus-point victory, to maximise their chances, would have to do. Mission accomplished thanks to a hat-trick of tries by the front-row dynamo Dan Sheehan.

But forget the points table, forget the performance: since Cian Healy, Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony announced their decision to retire from international rugby at the end of this tournament, it would be an emotional day regardless. Healy’s international career began at Croke Park in 2009 and a 20-20 draw against Australia. All O’Mahony had to do, in the second half, was take his tracksuit off to prompt a deafening roar.

After the battering by Les Bleus the doom-mongers said this great Ireland team was finished: that a comprehensive rebuild is needed when Andy Farrell returns from British & Irish Lions duty. At 29.5, Ireland’s XV did have the highest average age of the six sides competing on ‘Super Saturday’. Ireland finished? The truth is somewhere between two extremes.

Ireland made six changes with Jack Crowley starting at No 10 after an uncomfortable outing for Sam Prendergast against France: Mack Hansen and James Lowe returned on the wings. For Italy, Gonzalo Quesada dropped Michele Lamaro, his regular captain, to the bench – Juan Ignacio Brex was skipper and Tommaso Allan slotted in at full-back with the lightning-quick Ange Capuozzo on the wing.

Hugo Keenan touches down. Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP

A distinctly scruffy opening was forgotten when the Azzurri scored a sensational try. Tommaso Menoncello capped a typically powerful run with an offload to Paolo Garbisi. The fly-half had options and chose wisely, executing a perfect grubber that sat up for the onrushing Monty Ioane. Allan curled over a fine conversion.

The pace of Capuozzo in defence was an asset: the metronomic goal-kicking of Allan was likely to be important. Menoncello was soon sent charging behind the Irish defence by his midfield partner Brex, but was dragged down by the desperate Irish defence. The frustration of Simon Easterby, Ireland’s interim head coach, was visible – more so when Finlay Bealham had a try ruled out for a double movement.

The Irish machinery, seemingly so well-oiled in the first three rounds that brought a Triple Crown, was spluttering. Crowley came to the rescue: the Munsterman found Hugo Keenan with a smooth offload for the full-back to score off an attacking scrum. Worryingly for Quesada, by the half-hour mark Italy had lost Dino Lamb, Lorenzo Cannone and Sebastian Negri to injury with Niccòlo Cannone, Ross Vintcent and Lamaro entering the fray.

Allan hammered over a long-range penalty, Ringrose going offside, to put Italy back ahead. Lamaro, enthusiatic to make an impact, was sent to the sin-bin for blatantly slapping the ball out of Jamison Gibson-Park’s hand. By the time his sin-bin time was served, Sheehan had scored two tries and another promising first half, from an Italian perspective, appeared to have gone up in smoke – especially when Vintcent was sent off for a high tackle on Keenan.

Past the 50-minute mark, O’Mahony simply readying himself for action prompted a massive roar. Keenan was denied a bonus-point clinching try for an earlier knock-on but Ireland had their fourth when a pinpoint cross-kick by Gibson-Park found Hansen, who lobbed sweetly inside for Sheehan’s hat-trick.

Diminished by injury and having spent half an hour reduced to 14, the suspicion was that Italy would fade. But it was the Azzurri, restored to 15, pushing for a winner after Stephen Varney chased down Capuozzo’s kick on 62 minutes to make it a five-point game. Prendergast, having replaced Crowley, was only to happy to boot the ball into touch to finish the match.

The title, Ireland knew, would be settled in Cardiff and Paris. “We’ll celebrate our lads and see what happens,” Sheehan told ITV. You bet they would.