Players not deaf to the infamous Lansdowne hush

"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 pipping God Save the Queen for that place.

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'