DAN SHEEHAN was glad his three tries got a win to send off three Ireland legends.
Hooker Sheehan scored a hat-trick as Ireland edged out Italy 22-17 in Rome in what was the final game before international retirement for Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray.
And it was also Cian Healy’s final time with the squad, after he played his final game last week against France.
But while the Six Nations ended with a Triple Crown, there was no Championship with the loss to France proving costly.
Sheehan said: “It’s good day to give the lads a send-off, Church, Pete and Murray. We talked about it a lot this week and making sure that we showed up for them.
“In fairness to Italy, they put it up to us for a good chunk of that game and really put us under pressure and we had to dig deep there to get a win.
“We weren’t happy with the way we performed last week, especially in that second half, we went ahead and one after another they were under our posts.
“I don’t think we got the performance (against Italy) but that’s part of the game, I suppose.
“It’s pretty disappointing that we didn’t get the performance last week but it’s nice to get the five points on the back of last week.”
Sheehan also paid credit to the trio legends.
He added: “I grew up watching them. I didn’t ever think I’d be in the same shirt as them.
“Three or four years ago I remember Pete – who I knew for a week – telling me to swap his jersey rather than mine to keep my first jersey.
“Coming from someone who I watched in a Munster jersey for the last ten years. Those lads have been the backbone of our squad over the last four years.
“It’s a pretty emotional day to see them go and hopefully we’ll see them around in the future but they’ll be sadly missed.”
But he insisted that it is up to others to fill the void left by their departures.
Sheehan continued: “It’s part of the game that lads will move on. We’ve had some big players in the past couple of years move on.
“They will be a loss but I think there’s some good talent coming through that are happy to fill the spot and put their own print on the game hopefully over the next couple of years.
“That’s just the cycle of sport, and the cycle of rugby is that new talent is coming through and hopefully we’ll be alright.”
