The damage: Shattered glass, shop windows smashed, wire security fencing mangled, concrete bricks strewn across the road, acrid smoke rising from a skip set on fire.
The scene in O'Connell Street after the riots was mirrored on the other side of the Liffey, where burnt-out cars smouldered on South Leinster Street and smashed windows were being boarded up at the Progressive Democrats' office in South Frederick Street.
Bewildered shoppers, including tourists and Welsh rugby supporters, looked incredulously at the damage.
An attempt was made to hijack a broken-down bus at O'Connell Bridge. "They weren't young fellows, they were three men in their 40s," a Dublin bus employee said. But the gardaí stopped them, he added.
However, the people some rugby supporters saw throwing missiles were said to have been very young. "There were eight and nine-year-olds with their faces covered by scarves, organising it on their mobile phones," said Evan Williams, from Swansea. "We were surprised at it happening in the south of Ireland. In the North, we'd understand it," he added.
Byron Williams, from Neath in Wales, spoke of youngsters at the rear exit of the bar in their hotel "taking crates of bottles".
The city's main thoroughfare took the brunt of the damage. Near the Parnell Monument, the evidence of the missiles thrown lay all around - shattered glass from bottles, parts of concrete bricks, planks of wood, mangled wire from the nearly two-metre fencing now torn apart and twisted on the road.
All along O'Connell Street glass crunched underfoot from bottles and windows.
Huge window panes at an empty retail unit on the corner of Cathal Brugha Street were smashed in. Staff from Toddy's Bar were outside inspecting the damage to their main window.
Further down, a skip was spewing out black smoke. It had been set alight outside the GPO and the acrid smell filled the air.
At the O'Connell Bridge end, McDonald's had doors and windows broken. Nextdoor, the Eddie Rocket's window was cracked.
Two shoe shops, Foot Locker and Schuh, had similar damage. After looting at Schuh's, two gardaí stood in the doorway to prevent further incidents.
Most businesses were forced to close. The Savoy cinema had a notice up: "Due to unforeseen circumstances, the cinema will be closed until further notice."
Later in the afternoon, bars and fast-food restaurants reopened, and by yesterday evening things were almost back to normal.