The hex is over. On a heaven-sent Scottish Sunday, the Irish visited Murrayfield and found that the old place is no longer the cauldron of wicked spells they had come to loathe.
Records tumbled and dreams grew bolder as Ireland began their Six Nations season with a 36-6 win. Since 1985, when Captain Brian O'Driscoll was just 6 years of age, Ireland have foundered on this ground.
"It was always going to be a huge game," said Ireland's coach Eddie O'Sullivan afterwards. "This has been an unhappy ground for Ireland and it's just a huge relief to get over it."
In the beginning, it looked as if the Scots had set another series of traps for their Celtic cousins, upsetting the visitors from the kick-off and almost touching down for a try after 20 seconds. It was as close as they came. Ireland survived and settled and took a grip on the game through a Denis Hickie try 25 minutes in. David Humphreys scored 26 points as Ireland enjoyed their biggest victory against Scotland in half a century.
"I think the scores at the end came a little bit easy," said O'Sullivan, who was happy but cautious at this stage of the season.
It was a hapless day for Scotland, who had become accustomed to bossing the Irish at this venue. They left the field scoreless at half-time and gave it one last gallant push when they returned. "They had us by the pin or our collar at that point" said O'Sullivan. "If they scored it might have been a different ball game."
That was what they used to say about Ireland after these games in Murrayfield. But not any longer. The Irish visit Italy next weekend, with the season young and in rude health.
In the weekend's other rugby matches, England beat France 25-17 and Italy beat Wales 30-22