Ireland are determined to stay in the "hunt" for the Six Nations title, according to Joe McCarthy, while a shot at the Triple Crown remains very much on the cards.
France, who beat Italy 33-8 yesterday, are favourites for the championship with a trip to Scotland and a home game against England to come.
Saturday's 42-21 win over England means Ireland can still win the title and the remaining fixtures set up a shot at the Triple Crown.
Wales, who lost narrowly to Scotland on Saturday after heavy defeats to England and France, come to Dublin on Friday week, while the Scots will have at least the Triple Crown to play for after their wins over the two other British teams when they arrive the following week.
Lock McCarthy produced his best performance of the Six Nations season in a statement victory from Andy Farrell's side that eased concerns about the team's poor performances over the last 12 months.
McCarthy was not inclined to get ahead of himself but setting a realistic goal of beating two teams with dreadful records in Aviva Stadium is not far-fetched.
"We'll have to try and get the bodies right and we'll get a mini-camp in which is always good, you get some good work there, you might train against the [Under-] 20s, there is loads on the line, we can still win a championship, win a Triple Crown, so lots to hunt down," said the 24-year-old, who won his 22nd cap.
The 6ft 6in Leinster lock was back to his disruptive best against Steve Borthwick's side, getting a turnover, carrying seven times and making 11 tackles across his 63 minutes, and while the Irish scrum creaked again, the English pack lost two mauls due to McCarthy and his mates.
"Yeah, it was nice when you get an early turnover at the start of the game because it gets you into it and I felt sharp and felt like I had good energy in the game so, yeah, I was happy enough," he said.
"It's never perfect, there's a few bits to think back to where it can improve. But I'm happy, especially as the team was going so well with so many different turnovers so that was great.
"I bloody love mauls to be honest, they're probably my favourite part of the game.
"I love the feeling, it’s kind of like a wrestle or something.
"I think maybe even my Blackrock days, Seamus Toomey [current IRFU scrum coach] had us doing crazy hard maul sessions and I think that's ingrained that into me so I love that area."
The 21-point win was Ireland sixth victory in seven games against England but few outside the camp believed the team was ready to deliver such a complete performance.
"It's very hard to win at Twickenham, [it was] my first time winning here. It was absolutely brilliant, such a good feeling out there," added the New York-born forward.
"We had a lot of confidence during the week that if we do our things well we could get a result so I'm happy to see that kind of pay off on the pitch.
"Even the first week especially where it didn't go too well, we sort of felt like our preparation had been real good.
"All the plans going into the games had been super good and maybe hadn't come together as well on the pitch.
"But we knew if we kept at it we were going to pay dividends eventually. We were happy we could put out a good performance, the pitch got a good feeling going and kept it going throughout the day so it was pleasing."
McCarthy's brother Paddy, who made his international debut last November, was ruled out of the championship due to a foot injury and watched the game at home but his parents and brother Andrew were there among a sea of visiting supporters in the famous stadium to witness one of the great Irish rugby days.
"Yeah, my brother Andrew, he's delighted wearing his Ireland suit again, his 'good luck' suit, and then my two parents [were there]," revealed McCarthy.
"It's super special seeing your family after a game, it's so good how much joy it brings them. I love seeing them there.
"We heard the Fields of Athenry, it was going crazy, it was unreal, it felt like a home game for a bit of that.
"That was a big part we talked about, just making the people of Ireland feel really good.
"The difference you can make to Irish people's weeks and months and the belief it gives them looking at our team so it's cool being able to do that."
