PETER O’MAHONY won his first and last Ireland caps against Italy – and he admitted it all changed, changed utterly in between.
The 35-year-old won his 114th and final cap on Saturday at the Stadio Olimpico 15 years after he first wore the green jersey when he faced Italy in Dublin.
His first visit to Rome came the following year when injuries meant forward O’Mahony ended Declan Kidney’s final game in charge on the wing.
And O’Mahony remembered that day and Ireland’s only Six Nations defeat to Italy when pointing out how everything has changed.
O’Mahony said: “In 2013, we lost and we came fifth in the Championship. And now the expectation of everyone in Ireland when we take the pitch is that we win.
“The expectation at the start of the Six Nations is we win the Six Nations.
“That’s the expectation that they have, that’s down to the hard work of players, that’s not down to anyone else.
“But we’ve gone from hoping to expecting. Over the space of a decade or so, we’ve changed the mindset of players and supporters to expecting nothing but wins from Ireland.
“We’ve had some big wins. Back in Paul (O’Connell’s) team we won the double.
“We came fifth here and had back to back Championships after that and that was definitely a huge step forward for us.
“Then you go to ’18 you win a Grand Slam and that run continued on for a while, that was probably the point where we were chasing stuff down.
“Listen it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go but we went on and built from there, when Andy (Farrell) came on and we rarely lose now and that’s now the expectation.”
O’Mahony, who will retire from Munster this summer, leaves Ireland having won the Championship five times though the three World Cup quarterfinal defeats to rankle.
But he is certain that Ireland are in a good place and will continue to be live up to expectations in future.
He said: “I think that group that you’re looking at at the moment is one of the most talented groups of people you’re going to come across.
“The number of players that I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside over the last eight weeks, it’s getting better and better.
“It is in good hands, incredibly good hands. I’ve spoken about the players and management, they’re some of the best people.
“I think Irish rugby is in an incredible place. The amount of young people that are playing the game, that’s because they’re following a team that are winning.
“You go back to my team, it was ‘what soccer team did you follow?’ because they won everything.
“There are kids now that are playing rugby in areas that never played rugby before because of what this team has been through and what has been done.”
O’Mahony admitted that leaving the Ireland set-up now will be tough as he is also leaving a dressing room of his friends.
The Cork man is hugely popular in the dressing room because of his perceived grumpy nature – he refused to hug Finlay Bealham when the Connacht man asked him for one in the mixed zone.
O’Mahony joked: “Most fellas are good craic, he (Bealham) isn’t!
“I’ve got to come to terms with coming into camp and it’s an unbelievably enjoyable place to play. Good people, you have good fun.
“At the same time, the main thing is the main thing and that is performing but it is the people that make the jersey special, I’ve said that all year.
“I’ll miss that hugely, I’ll miss the friendships. Not that that ends.”
But he would not rule a return to the rugby fold in future as a coach.
He said: “I’m not going to take it off the table but I’m going to take a break now to reassess.
“I need to give a huge amount back to my family, they have sacrificed more than I have, and that’s a lot.
“I’ll be involved in the stands, as a supporter, shouting them on.”
