'Some guys are coming to the end of the road'

Wales v Ireland Irish quotes: The Irish players trudged wearily down the stairs in dribs and drabs heading for the sanctuary of the team bus, nursing their disappointment. A Six Nations Championship that initially tantalised this Ireland squad with the lure of Grand Slams and Triple Crowns ended in a morass of error.

This wasn't the script that had been penned for Eddie O'Sullivan's charges, the rewrite altogether less palatable. There was the inevitable press conference inquisition, the suggestions that those players of a certain vintage might be in the line for the pension and watch.

Ireland's captain, Brian O'Driscoll, freed from the straight-jacket of the official press conference, tried to offer a less emotive perspective on several issues. "Look we don't become a bad side just because we lost two games. We worked hard to get where we were at but I think it is proof that we have some way to go yet.

"I don't think we ever got properly firing in this competition. Our defence held us together for the English game and up to a point for the Italian game. Wales were consistent throughout the whole competition; they scored tries and it's not something that we did. They proved where you have to be at to win it."

He didn't baulk when confronted with the notion the present incarnation of this team might have played its final game.

"Strength in depth in some positions is going to cause us some trouble. We are going to have to come to terms with that. We have a quality 30-man panel that we are going to have to delve into now because some guys are coming to the end of the road."

Inevitably, excuses were proffered for Ireland's demise in bemoaning absent, injured team-mates. "To be honest I think Shane was the biggest loss we had; Darce (Gordon D'Arcy) was (a loss). We played with Shaggy (Shane Horgan) during the November series and he played really well for us.

"We played the first three games of this competition and we won all three. And now he's sitting at home watching the two games that Ireland lost. That speaks volumes of how much I rate him and how valuable he is for this side.

"We are feeling so dejected because we lost two of the five games. Years ago if we won three we would have been celebrating out there today. Times have moved on and we are at the point where we want to continue to better ourselves each year. When it doesn't happen you do get that element of disappointment.

"The only way we see where to go next is by looking at the results and our performances, picking ourselves up and having a sense of perspective, because we know we're not a bad side."

Paul O'Connell spoke of opportunities lost, of how errors undermined Ireland's ambition to try to establish patterns and ultimately exert control on the game.

"We let them get up too much of a lead in the first half and suffered for it. They played very well and they were probably the better team on the day. We played well in parts but didn't control the game properly; silly little mistakes (like) running ahead of the kicker. It let them off the hook when we had the ball.

"We were playing well in the first half but we kept making those silly mistakes and that was ultimately what cost us. Maybe if Girvan had gone over in the corner or Axel (Anthony Foley) had gone over in the corner it could have been a different game. I suppose when the luck's with you it's with you and (when it's) against you it's against."

The Irish secondrow paid tribute to the Welsh pack before dismissing his tangle in the corner with Robert Sidoli that was resolved with a handshake. "(It was) just a bit of a row (that) had broken out. We were on top of each other. He wasn't pulling away and I wasn't pulling away. There wasn't anything serious there."

As his team-mates filed past, O'Connell tried to offer an overview on the last 10 days. "It's a massive disappointment. We thought we were ready to take the next step but we weren't. We lost two games in a row. We have to stand back now and take a look at ourselves and try and get ourselves going forward again. No one is talking about retirement. There are a lot of good young guys coming through in the positions of the guys that are older."

The retirement issue was also addressed by one of Ireland's try scorers, Marcus Horan. "There are guys who are not here today who are disappointed they are not involved. I don't think it is the end of an era. There is strength in depth there in the Irish squad. Some guys will probably be moving on or whatever. I think there is a strong group of players right down to the A team that played two weeks ago so I don't think there's any problem there or worry there's the end of an era.

"There was a huge opportunity for us there and then (we had) the disappointment of the French game. It was hard to come back from but we still had something to play for today. A lot of guys were fighting for it regardless of what their future held."