Just over 26 minutes played in Paris and Ireland were on the rack. “When they're playing on top of you, yeah… It was a poor penalty for me, definitely avoidable,” he explained when asked about it some days later. It was just a poor penalty from me and it gave him three points. No wonder, then, that McCarthy was happy to cling to the lifebuoy when some of the few positives were mentioned. McCarthy and Ireland will be hoping that trend doesn’t continue.

Source: Irish Examiner February 12, 2026 17:00 UTC