BIG SURGES FROM Juan Martín González and Bautista Delguy brought the Pumas from the halfway line all the way into Ireland’s 22 in the space of 15 seconds and Irish supporters’ hearts were suddenly in their mouths.

With the clock in the red and Ireland leading 22-19, there was the prospect of late agony.

Craig Casey stretched out to haul Delguy down and Ireland recovered their defensive line as the 14-man Pumas attack slowed. Still, they edged forward. 

Tadhg Beirne jackaled looking for a turnover but was cleared away.

Argentina edged even closer, up towards the Irish five-metre line. And then came Cian Healy and Joe McCarthy’s intervention.

As the game ticked towards the 83rd minute, Healy and McCarthy teamed up to bring Joaquín Oviedo to ground, then bounced back up onto their feet to barge forward, forcing a win-sealing knock-on at the base of the ruck.

“Church was making some of the craziest noises ever trying to use every last bit of juice in him to get a counter-ruck,” said McCarthy after Ireland’s win.

“I think he used every last bit of his energy to force the error.

“It was a good bit of experience from him to get it done at the end.”

Understandably, McCarthy pushed the credit onto Healy on the occasion of the prop’s record-equalling 133rd cap for Ireland but McCarthy clearly played his part too.

The 23-year-old second row was named player of the match after a hard-working shift for Andy Farrell’s side.

The only part of the game he missed was the 10-minute period he spent in the sin bin in the second half after being caught offside. Referee Paul Williams had already issued Ireland a yellow-card warning and McCarthy was the next offender.

“I don’t know how I got man of the match after getting a yellow but yeah, there were a good few yellow cards in the game now!” said McCarthy.

“I’ll definitely hear about it from Paulie [O'Connell, Ireland's forwards coach] in the meeting on Monday.”

While McCarthy was in the bin, Ireland’s head of athletic performance Aled Walters was in his ear, telling him to stay warm and focus on the next positive moment he would deliver when he was back on the pitch.

McCarthy had a few of those but among the most enjoyable was scrummaging behind debutant tighthead prop Thomas Clarkson when Ireland won a scrum penalty in the 65th minute.

McCarthy with Cian Healy. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO

“So, so good,” said McCarthy, “delighted for him. He’s so dedicated to getting here, such a diligent player, a real smart tighthead. I love scrummaging behind him.

“We went to the same school, so I know TC very well. I was delighted to be behind him for that scrum, it’s probably the best feeling on your debut, getting an international scrum penalty. It was class.”

Giving up 13 penalties for the second week running was the most frustrating aspect of the night for Ireland on Friday.

Farrell is keen for his team to be combative but as players like McCarthy know, there’s a fine line between playing on the edge and slipping over it.

“It’s something we talk about,” said McCarthy.

“We lost the penalty count against New Zealand which makes it extremely tough to stay in the game and then again today, we gave them some easy outs so I think if we start cutting out some of those penalties, I think that will make our game flow a lot better.

“We’re forcing it a bit. Because I think we came out of the blocks firing and then we started slipping into some bad habits and giving away penalties which kind of made the game cagey enough.”