O’Mahony is Murrayfield’s and Scotland’s pantomime villain when it comes to these fixtures, whether they be Test matches or Munster visits to Glasgow in particular, the 35-year-old has always been a thorn in Scottish sides, through his actions and his abrasiveness. It helps that Ireland have enjoyed such rich pickings from their meetings with the Scots, 11 consecutive wins now, including a 2023 World Cup pool meeting at Stade de France when there had been talk of the tide turning in the relationship. O’Mahony duly rose to the occasion on his 100th Ireland appearance and Scotland were beaten 36-14. "They were in the press beforehand saying they were going to knock us off and end our streak, how they figured us out and worked us out,” the Corkman said in a post-match interview. “I don’t think they did, to be honest with you.” It is why Caelan Doris, the man who succeeded O’Mahony as captain, said of his fellow back-rower on Sunday evening following the latest, 32-18 victory: “He loves playing against Scotland so there was an extra edge to him in training this week. As a fellow back row, he’s someone I love playing with and having there beside me. It was great to have him.” Cue another O’Mahony zinger as he took his turn to face the media. Asked why he enjoyed playing Scotland, he replied: "I don’t know what it is. It's competitive. We've had the Glasgow thing for a long time. Every time it's a battle. “Someone said I got a fairly savage boo when I came off, that’s potentially one of the biggest compliments of my career, in 111 Test matches. “So, thanks Murrayfield.” Had he heard the boos as he trudged off the pitch? “No I didn't, but I’ll take it.” O’Mahony will also take a bonus-point victory, Ireland’s second in a row at the start of this 2025 Six Nations that keeps the back-to-back champions on course for a first three-in-a-row since Italy joined the championship in 2000. Ireland go to Cardiff next, a week on Saturday with a Triple Crown on the line against a demoralised and winless Wales side hammered by France on the opening night in Paris and outplayed by Italy in Rome at the weekend. O’Mahony urged onward improvement after Ireland had opened the door for Scotland late in the first half having led 17-0, only for the home side to make it 17-11 nine minutes into the second period. Thoughts of anything beyond the next task were banished at the suggestion something special could coming this year. “I sense that this is a good group and that if we put our minds to it and we stay on top of the stuff that we're talking about, we can put in some very, very good performances. We're tough to beat but you see even at just before half-time, little lapses of concentration, we don't get the scrum quite right, we miss the breakdown penalty, we kind of switch off defensively. “This is international rugby, you’ve got to be all over it for 80 minutes and as soon as you switch off, you’re under pressure from teams like Scotland, Wales coming up down the line. So you’ve got to be all over it for the majority of the game and today we were but there was windows there when we allowed them into it.” He added: "Of course we know what's at stake but you get ahead of things and something goes wrong So we’ll have an evening off, a few days off, back into camp and it’s great now, two good performances and we've a big lead-in to another big game against Wales in the Millennium Stadium.”