Ireland are now the only team left who could land a six Nations Grand Slam, after they beat England 14-13 in a miserable encounter at Croke Park on Saturday.
Brian O'Driscoll got the crucial try with 23 minutes to go, a suitable riposte after he had twice been felled late and without arms in, well, after the process of kicking.
Ronan O'Gara missed the conversion of that, and three other shots at goal on a strange off-day for him. Other teams would have made Ireland pay, for like O'Gara's boot, the Irish were rarely at their best.
England are not one of those other teams. Once again, ill-discipline pervaded their efforts, never more apparent than when Phil Vickery became England's ninth yellow-card recipient in four games for killing the ball not two minutes after referee Craig Joubert had issued a stern and lengthy team warning. Two minutes later, O'Driscoll scored. As if the fact that you cannot win with 14 men had not been emphasized enough ...
It didn't stop there either. Danny Care followed Vickery with ten minutes to go for an asinine shoulder charge on an innocent bystander at a ruck, helping O'Gara extend the lead to 14-6. Two yellow cards, eight points conceded as a result, eight points the defference between the two teams going into the final minute in which England scored. We'll leave it up to you to imagine the colour of the air around Martin Johnson in the stands.
Revitalised and rejuvenated by Declan Kidney's arrival, the mental frailties that have so often undermined Irish rugby appear to have been stamped out.
Paul O'Connell looks more certain to be Lions captain by the week, while Brian O'Driscoll is showing the form of old. He scored a try, a drop-goal and was named man of the match.
A team so long considered Six Nations bridesmaids can start sizing up their bridal gowns. Ireland have won three Triple Crowns in four years. No longer will that be good enough.
Scotland lie in wait at Murrayfield in a fortnight before a trip to Cardiff on the final weekend. Ireland have a first Grand Slam since 1948 firmly in their sights.
England spent most of a physical first half forced onto the back foot by the ferocious Irish forwards.
Under pressure, England were penalised seven times in 40 minutes and were fortunate not to be trailing after O'Gara missed two relatively simple shots at goal.
Neither side showed any real inclination to play rugby and the 81,000-plus Croke Park crowd spent long periods craning their necks to watch aimless bouts of kick-tennis.
England's early glimpses of adventure, with nice touches from Riki Flutey and Mike Tindall, came to nothing as they twice ignored overlaps.
And from the moment Joe Worsley was overwhelmed at the breakdown, it was Ireland who edged the physical battle and they enjoyed 59 per cent of the first-half possession.
O'Gara almost created the opening try with a deft chip over the top for Tommy Bowe but Mark Cueto reacted smartly to win the race and touch down.
After two simple misses, O'Gara finally nudged Ireland onto the scoreboard just before the half-hour mark as England scrambled to recover after Flood's pass had been intercepted by O'Driscoll.
England managed to draw themselves level just before the interval with a Flood penalty from their one foray into the Irish 22.
But Ireland started the second half with purpose, helped by James Haskell and then Flood conceding careless penalties.
O'Driscoll snapped over a drop-goal before Ireland built 10 minutes of virtually unbroken pressure and tempers began to fray.
A series of tit-for-tat off-the-ball barges ended with referee Craig Joubert issuing a stern warning to England captain Steve Borthwick after Armitage was penalised for taking out O'Driscoll.
Tomas O'Leary sniped to within inches of the line before Joubert's patience finally snapped and Vickery was sent to the sin-bin as England defended desperately.
Ireland opted for the scrum and O'Driscoll crashed over from close range to score his third try of the championship.
O'Gara had an off day with the boot and missed with the conversion before Johnson began to ring the changes, with Mathew Tait, Care, Goode and Dylan Hartley all sent on.
In the midst of the changes, Armitage reduced the arrears to 11-6. England were still in with a chance -- but then Care decided to crash into Horan from behind and was yellow-carded.
England staged a late rally with Goode and Tindall's breaking through the Irish midfield before Armitage sprinted onto the grubber kick to score.
Goode landed the tough conversion but England ran out of time. We'll see in a fortnight if Martin Johnson has run out of patience with his miscreants.
The scorers:
For Ireland:
Try: O'Driscoll
Con: O'Gara
Pens: O'Gara 2
Drop goal: O'Driscoll
For England:
Try: Armitage
Con: Goode
Pens: Flood, Armitage
Yellow card: Vickery (England, 55, persistent infringement), Care (England, 70, off-the-ball tackle)
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (captain), 12 Paddy Wallace, 11 Luke Fitzgerald, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Tomas O'Leary, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 David Wallace, 6 Stephen Ferris, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Tom Court, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Denis Leamy, 20 Peter Stringer, 21 Gordon D'Arcy, 22 Geordan Murphy.
England: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Riki Flutey, 11 Mark Cueto, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Harry Ellis, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Joe Worsley, 6 James Haskell, 5 Nick Kennedy, 4 Steve Borthwick (captain), 3 Phil Vickery, 2 Lee Mears, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Julian White, 18 Tom Croft, 19 Luke Narraway, 20 Danny Care, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Mathew Tait.
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Christophe Berdos (France), Peter Allan (Scotland)
Television match official: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
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