Rob Kearney admitted Ireland rode their luck in beating France in their opening game of the Six Nations courtesy of Johnny Sexton's late drop goal and paid tribute to the composure of his team-mate.
Sexton's remarkable kick from 42 metres after time helped Joe Schmidt’s side to a 15-13 victory in Paris.
Trailing 13-12 thanks to a Teddy Thomas try, Ireland kept their heads through 41 phases of play in order to open up a window for Sexton.
And the out-half, who scored all of Ireland's points on the night, duly obliged from just inside the France half to earn Ireland the win
"It's quite incredible really. We probably got out of jail a little bit," Kearney said afterwards.
"I thought it (the drop goal) was a little short"
"To build that amount of phases, to keep the ball - the conditions are awful - and then the stones on Johnny at the end was incredible.
"I thought it (the drop goal) was a little short. It went in slow motion and it just crept over.
"We knew it was the last play. He ran off celebrating and we all went along. It was unbelievably special."
Match-winner Sexton said: "I'm just happy I got another chance. In the last moment something caught my eye and just happy to get another chance to get victory for the boys.
"We've worked so hard for the last two weeks and it's great to be in the position we are now after an away win."
When asked what he thought of before kicking the winning goal, the fly-half said: "I went back to many years ago when we played Treviso away and I was in an almost identical position and just flashed back to that. Just got there in the end."
