"We have a good record at home and that's largely down to the supporters, who create a really good atmosphere and we feed off that." - Hugo Keenan interview in Ireland v Italy programme.
If there had have been a song contest at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday it would have been no contest, a straight knock-out in the third round.
The winner, by a country mile, was Stevie Mulrooney.
The eight-year-old from Kilkenny wowed the 51,700 crowd before the Italy match, "nailed it" as Andy Farrell put it when asked about that rendition of Ireland's Call.
Compared to Flower of Scotland or La Marseillaise, the Phil Coulter number hasn’t always been a hit with the Lansdowne Road jury.
Indeed, in an RTÉ Sport poll before the 2022 championship, the song finished fifth of seven options, just a few votes ahead of God Save the Queen.
But this was different. After Fratelli d'Italia and Amhrán na bhFiann, Stevie lifted the entire stadium.
Mulrooney's inclusion in the matchday schedule was an example of the IRFU making an effort to improve the atmosphere at the Lansdowne Road venue, but the proceeding 80 minutes would leave you wondering if there was more that could be done.
The once famed Landowne roar is now more of a Lansdowne hush.
The crowd were still buzzing when the game kicked off moments later, but after a couple of Irish errors it the visitors who fired the first shot.
Or, indeed, misfired the first shot as Paolo Garbisi’s penalty skewed off target, but Keenan’s quick tap-and-go after taking a mark lit the spark and 13 phases later Ireland were on their way to a six-try thrashing of the Azzurri.
But between that score and the next, a hush descended at the famous stadium in Dublin.
Ladies and gentleman, thank you for observing 17 minutes' silence.
OK, that's an exaggeration but between the action - it was a game that had 20 penalties, and 35 handling errors - there was the distinct murmur of thousands of people having a pleasant chat.
"It’s one of those things you only pick up in break moments, at scrums and lineouts and things like that," admitted Jack Conan when asked if that lack of engagement can be picked up by the players.
"In comparison to Marseille last week [against France] when I came on I nearly got one of the calls wrong because I couldn’t really hear what James was saying for the call for the lineout because of the noise.
"There was definitely some lulls in the crowd but it’s Sunday at 3 o'clock, it’s very different to playing Saturday at 7.45 or 8 o'clock kick-off, it’s a different demographic altogether."
The kick-off is hardly primetime but ever since the stadium was rebuilt in 2010 there has been an issue with crowd participation, not for every game and a visit from the All Blacks or the Springboks or England always gets the crowd going.
Still, given what we witnessed at the World Cup - and accepting the fact that a more boisterous atmosphere can be expected on those occasions - it's not much to ask for a bit more from the fans, most of whom pay handsomely for the pleasure.
Just prior to Ireland's third try, which came five minutes before the break and off a dangerous five-metre lineout, some fans still felt the urgent need to top up their refreshments. When the clock hit 70 there was a steady stream of supporters on their way to beat the traffic.
"It’s tough, man, I sort of understand that people have work tomorrow as well," man of the match James Lowe told RTÉ Sport.
"We didn’t really notice it, we just got on with the job."
On 30 minutes there was a half-hearted attempt at The Fields of Athenry, but it quickly faded. Lads, don't make a show of us in front of Stevie, belt it out loud and proud.
"In a way it’s probably tough on the crowd in a game they expect us to win," said Stuart McCloskey, alluding to the lack of jeopardy in the game.
"I don’t think any of the squad expect us to win, we know it’s going to be a tough task.
"As a fan looking on, they probably expect us to win and when we start fast and don’t keep going at that rate that’s why the lull comes.
"You feel it a wee bit out there, it doesn’t affect us too much, we are used to it by now but I thought we gave them a fair bit to cheer about."
Indeed there were some thrilling moments but the crowd have some serious 'work-ons' for round three in 10 days' time.
"We’ve got Wales in a couple of weeks' time, I'm fairly sure it's a Saturday game, I’m sure they will be rowdy enough for that because Wales is a whole new challenge," added Lowe.
Let's hope he's right.
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