Denis Leamy has revealed England were victims of a ferocious backlash as Ireland sought to ease the pain of their sickening defeat to France.

Ireland nudged their RBS 6 Nations title bid back on track with a stunning 43-13 demolition of the stricken world champions in a symbolic day at Croke Park.

It was the first time an English team had competed at the home of Gaelic sport and the onus on Ireland to mark the occasion with a famous triumph was immense.

Historical significance aside, they also needed to silence accusations they had choked in the heart-stopping 20-17 defeat by France nearly two weeks earlier.

They threw away a winning position against the defending champions by conceding a soft try seven minutes into injury time, leaving their Grand Slam bid in tatters.

But the disappointment of their Croke Park debut was forgotten as England were put to the sword in brutal fashion and Leamy admitted the need to atone for Les Bleus horror-show spurred Ireland on.

"There was such a big build up for England and we couldn't get away from it," said the rampaging Munster number eight. "Every time we turned on the TV or looked at a newspaper all the coverage was there.

"That put us under a bit of pressure but we coped a lot better than we did against France. It was very emotional and a few of the boys had tears in their eyes during the anthem.

"The France match gave us experience and we got the start we wanted, taking the game by the scruff of the neck and imposing ourselves.

"We were very disappointed with our individual displays against the French. Collectively we wanted to roll up the sleeves - especially in the pack - and get on top of England.

"Our scrum was very good, our line-out was very good and our general forward play and work at the breakdown was very good.

"That was the kind of display we've been looking to put in for a long, long time. It has been coming for a while and it just happened to be against England.

"The France defeat hurt us a lot so we were really up for it against England."

Girvan Dempsey and David Wallace touched down in an utterly one-sided first half that saw England trail 23-3 at the interval.

Fly-half Ronan O'Gara was in masterful form throughout, landing all eight of his shots at goal and using the platform laid by his pack to keep Ireland driving forward.

Save for a mini revival shortly into the second half, when debutant David Strettle ran in a try for England, Ireland were never under pressure with Shane Horgan and Isaac Boss adding tries to complete the rout.

It was a remarkable performance that once again underlined Ireland's enormous potential in the wake of thumping autumn victories over South Africa and Australia.

But Leamy, one of the many heroes at Croke Park yesterday, insists they must maintain the current level of performance if they are to mount a serious World Cup challenge in the autumn.

"We need to get more consistency. If we'd put in that performance against England after beating France the game before than I would have said we need to be taken seriously as World Cup contenders," he said.

"The way the World Cup goes you can't afford to slip up and unless we learn the lessons of that France game we can't be considered as contenders.

"But if play like we did against England on a consistent basis, then we'll be up there.

"This win makes the France result harder to take. We know what we're capable of and we didn't play well against them."

The demise of England's 100 per cent record in this year's Six Nations has revived Ireland's hopes of winning the title.

They need the world champions or Scotland to upset France to have any chance of wrestling control from Les Bleus and with trips to Edinburgh and Rome in store for themselves, there is still room for the championship to take another dramatic twist.

"Scotland has become a potential banana skin now," said Leamy. "Everyone knows the Scots are great partypoopers and we can't afford to give them a sniff.

"They've done it against so many teams who were going for Triple Crowns and Grand Slams."