Ireland head coach Andy Farrell admitted that he was delighted to get his reign off to a winning start, following his side's 19-12 Six Nations victory over Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.

The home side were pushed all the way by a plucky Scottish performance and could have lost their opening encounter only for an incredible "schoolboy" gaffe from Stuart Hogg as he failed to ground the ball properly when he got in for a certain try in the corner, late in the game.

Yet Farrell's side did enough to claim victory thanks to Jonny Sexton - himself captaining the team for the first time - after the Leinster ace scored the only try of the game while also contributing 14 points with his boot.

"I thought we thoroughly deserved the win, although I thought Scotland were great," said Farrell following the game.

"It was a good Test match. First up, it was very attritional, I thought that Scotland's forwards were excellent.

"Defensively they were hitting hard and we know what a threat they can be with ball in hand and we had to fight and dig deep plenty of times.

"Our performance, you can sum it up in the last five minutes, really. We asked the lads all week to make sure they star for something and I think you could easily see the true grit."

Farrell also revealed that he saw glimpses of the kind of attacking play he wants his Ireland side to adopt for the campaign.

Ireland appeared to jettison some of the precisely rehearsed power plays that were a trademark of Farrell's predecessor Joe Schmidt in favour of running the ball a lot more from deep.

Farrell, a former dual-code English international, conceded the shift drew mixed results at the Aviva Stadium.

"I thought there were some glimpses, I thought we got too carried away at times. Some of the decision making was good, some of it was a bit wayward. Those type of things are going to be a work in progress," said Farrell.

There was concern around the stadium when back-rower Caelan Doris went down after a heavy hit and had to be replaced just four minutes into his debut.

But Farrell reported: "He's up and talking. He's there with his family now in the changing room, they've just presented a cap to him and he's in fine spirits.

"It was unfortunate for him, it was just an accident, head on head. It's just unfortunate for him. He'll lick his wounds and he'll be back."

After last season began to go off the rails with an opening home Six Nations defeat by England, culminating in World Cup disappointment, Sexton was just pleased to get up and running.

"The first game of this tournament is all about winning," said the Leinster number 10, who was appointed captain by Farrell last month.

"Last year, we talk about the England game here. Triple Crown gone, Grand Slam gone, battling to try and even win a championship. We're alive in everything and that's where we want to be.

"It's always difficult to come together and have a perfect game but I thought we saw glimpses of what we can do and some of the ideas that we had."