Wales collected a Triple Crown with a deserved victory at Croke Park that sets them up for a tilt at the Grand Slam against France in Cardiff next Saturday. Judging by the way they celebrated this win, picking out the pockets of Welsh support on their lap of honour, they must be confident of their second Slam in four seasons.

Such an outcome will raise questions about the quality of this year’s Six Nations, but there was no doubting the calibre of Wales’s performance yesterday. Their front five, a supposed weakness, stood up to Ireland and even out-scrummed them, once surviving comfortably enough with a man in the bin. And behind, they played all the rugby, scoring the game’s solitary try by the magnificent Shane Williams.

Wales hadn’t won in Dublin since 2000 – ironically, when Warren Gatland was Ireland coach. Their main reason for optimism, apart from the confidence gathered from three straight wins, was that the game was not taking place at wind-blown Lansdowne Road. Their last two games there had been particularly blustery and they had shipped 30 points both times.

The theory went that the Welsh would be infinitely better suited to a 21st-century stadium like Croke Park, where the surface is firm and enclosed on three sides and thus better suited to the visitors’ quick offloading game. That said, they were probably less than enthusiastic about the swirling gusts allowed in by the uncovered Hill 16 – especially as Huw Bennett, their best lineout thrower, failed to recover from a bout of flu and was replaced by Matthew Rees.

The wind was mainly into Irish faces for the first half, so much so that Ronan O’Gara turned down an early penalty normally within his range. He opted instead to knock it into touch in Wales’s 22 and from there, Ireland kept it simple, never moving the ball more than one pass away from the ruck. While they struggled to make yardage, they created enough pressure to force a short-range penalty for O’Gara, which he converted with Eoin Reddan required to steady the ball.

If this was the perfect settler for the home team, Wales struggled to get into the game. One lightning counter by Mark Jones required some excellent defending by the impressive Rob Kearney and hinted at what Wales could do with some decent ball. But they were hampered by a hesitant opening by Stephen Jones, of all people.

Passing with the wind at his back was proving a difficulty as two balls ended up on the floor in midfield, while he also pulled his first penalty attempt when John Hayes was pinged for binding on the arm.

By comparison, O’Gara had a clear picture of how Ireland were going to play the wind. He rarely put the ball through the hands, preferring to pepper the corners with a clever array of kicks, bringing Shane Horgan into the game wherever possible. He kicked his points also – threading a second penalty across the wind after Jonathan Thomas had killed the ball.

It could have been better for Ireland. First, Paul O’Connell got in front of Thomas at a lineout in the right corner, only to spill the ball, and then came the moment that looked like it might define the result.

Again, Horgan was centrally involved, profiting from some decent countering from Tommy Bowe and slicing infield off Reddan’s pass. Having got past Lee Byrne’s tackle, he could almost sniff the try-line as Mike Phillips hit him form the side and drove him back brilliantly with the help of Shane Williams. The Irish players were still convinced Horgan had got the touchdown but the replay showed he had lost control at the vital moment.

This looked an especially costly miss when Wales went straight back downfield and earned a penalty for Jones at the lineout, which he converted – suddenly a possible 13-0 had been transformed into 6-3.

But Wales were the team who went into the break feeling they had missed out. On 29 minutes, Jones had another shot at goal when Reddan was caught off-side at the scrum, but he pulled it horribly. Wales then proceeded to own the next 10 minutes, pulling Ireland side to side only to butcher several promising opportunities.