Another meeting with Wales, another epic battle.
As the dust settled in Dublin, both sides reflected on a thrilling, relentless collision that was studded with quality - and mistakes.
"Every time we play them there's only a score or two in it, the same today," Conor Murray told ITV Sport afterwards.
"Wales are a really good side, they don't give up and are pretty confident. We've had good battles with them, they know us and we know them."
Beaten captain Alun Wyn Jones felt the visitors ran out of time.
"We had to chase the game in the second half. We were too late, another 10 minutes would have been interesting. It was too little, too late.
"We'll have a look how things go. It's a disappointing day for us. We have two games to go and will focus on that."
Ireland march on to a showdown with Scotland, where another win would set up a mouthwatering St Patrick's Day shot at the Grand Slam at Twickenham.
Wales face Italy in a fortnight, left to rue costly errors in a rollercoaster game.
"We are disappointed with the amount of penalties we gave away in the first half because Ireland thrive on that," their head coach Warren Gatland said.
"Our goal-line defence wasn't good enough. We just didn't have enough and the penalty count in the first half was pretty costly."
