Paul O’Connell 'very happy' with Ireland’s display against Georgia

Paul O’Connell praised the efforts of his makeshift Ireland team after they registered an impressive 34-5 victory over Georgia in Tbilisi.

Without head coach Andy Farrell and a plethora of players due to British and Irish Lions commitments, interim boss O’Connell watched his youthful side show their strength in depth with an assured display on a rain-soaked pitch.

Debutant Tommy O’Brien raced over twice inside the opening exchanges before stand-in captain Craig Casey dotted down early in the second period and Nick Timoney wrapped up the scoring late on.

“Very important game,” O’Connell said during his on-pitch interview.

“A lot of players away with the Lions and we’ve got a load of guys who are just dying for an opportunity.

“And you wonder how they will take that opportunity, particularly (because) some of them hadn’t played games in a little while, so I’m very happy with how they went about their business.

“They had a load of intent with what they did and they were really accurate with that intent.”

In Ireland’s first meeting with Georgia since the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup, the visitors required only two minutes go ahead in wet conditions.

O’Brien marked his international bow with a try as he latched on to Sam Prendergast’s kick and touched down next to the posts.

Prendergast’s successful conversion was swiftly followed by a second score for Ireland in the eighth minute.

It was the same combination again as Prendergast sent the ball over the top and O’Brien crossed over in the right corner.

Georgia responded and with the clock in the red at the end of the first half, the hosts broke through the Irish defence thanks to Tornike Jalagonia in the corner.

It was a poor end to a professional first 40 minutes under O’Connell, but interim captain Casey stepped up after the break.

Casey stormed over inside 60 seconds after he combined with Ryan Baird to cap his first match with the armband with a try.

Another Prendergast conversion was followed by two penalties before Tom Ahern, Jack Aungier and Ben Murphy were sent on for Test debuts.

Timoney ensured Ireland had the final say with a fine late finish as captain Casey started his tenure with a win.

Casey added: “Yeah obviously very happy. A bit wetter than we expected during the week. We had to adapt our game a bit and I thought we managed the game really well.

“Our forwards were top-class, so we have to owe it to them. The feeling in the group is awesome, it’s a great start to the summer tour.

“There are a few lads making their first caps and we wanted to make it special for them and their families. Thankfully we did that.”