Ireland second row Paul O’Connell will undergo a scan on the shoulder injury he sustained during yesterday’s 43-31 defeat by France. O’Connell finished the Six Nations clash in Paris but coach Eddie O’Sullivan revealed afterwards the 26-year-old had played through the pain barrier.

O’Sullivan said: "Paul took a very heavy knock on the shoulder and is being assessed. We don’t know the exact level of damage but he is very sore."

Ireland arrived back in Dublin at midday and Lions lock O’Connell, who missed the November series with a thumb injury, was due to have the scan later this evening.

No word on his condition is expected until tomorrow (Monday) morning.

Fears over the fitness of Brian O’Driscoll have eased, however, with the Ireland captain only withdrawn from yesterday’s match as a precautionary measure.

O’Driscoll limped off after his hamstring tightened up but the Leinster centre will be available to face Wales in two weeks.

Meanwhile, Geordan Murphy claims it was O’Sullivan who inspired Ireland’s remarkable second half fightback.

Ireland trailed 43-3 in the 59th minute and appeared on course for a record defeat, but four unanswered tries from Ronan O’Gara, Gordon D’Arcy, Donncha O’Callaghan and Andrew Trimble saw French eyes glance nervously towards the scoreboard with 10 minutes to go.

The ease with which Ireland were shredding the home defence gave genuine hope they could complete one of the greatest fightbacks in rugby history.

Bernard Laporte’s side, frequently jeered by their own fans when they made a mistake themselves, were forced to repel waves of attacks but held firm for their first win of the tournament.

"We wanted to play an expansive game and take them on but anything that could go wrong did in the first half," said Murphy. "We went in at half-time and Eddie was calm and told us we’d played all the rugby. At that point not one of their tries had been scored through their own initiative.

"Eddie was happy and said we’d played well apart from the mistakes which led to the tries. He told us Irish teams have let their heads drop in the past and were beaten at the gate.

"We were told not to let that happen and to play for each other. They scored again in the second half but still our heads didn’t drop. Then we started playing some good rugby and it starting to click.

"There were a lot of Irish guys who were dead on their feet at the end but France were absolutely knackered. If we could play like that second half in every game, we’d be doing very well.

"We’ll frighten a few teams if we put a whole game together like that. That’s the aim. We’ve been promising to deliver a game for a while now and we want to play 15-man rugby."

O’Sullivan added: "We didn’t think the game was lost at half-time because France hadn’t actually played. The 29 points they had were pretty much our own doing.

"We had to focus on ourselves and get on with the match. We started the second half badly and conceded two tries.

"But then you have to decide whether you’ll take them on and play or walk away. The guys took them on and played."

O’Sullivan’s claims that all but one of France’s six tries were scored after Irish errors were well founded as only Cedric Heymans’ second was the result of their Les Bleus’ brilliance.

While Murphy’s silky running skills helped give Ireland the belief they could complete a famous upset, France plundered three tries from his blunders in a nightmare first half.

He missed a tackle on Aurelien Rougerie for the first, failed to deal with a long drop-out for Olivier Magne’s eighth minute try and threw the interception pass which led to Heymans’s first touchdown.

Murphy will want to forget yesterday’s opening 40 minutes as quickly as possible but the Leicester fullback was quick to take responsibility for the clangers.

"I personally made a few mistakes which cost us points. They were mistakes I wouldn’t normally expect to make but paid the price," he said.

"For the first try I missed one of the two tackles and that rests on my shoulders. The second try was from a quickly taken drop-out and I covered across to help Denis Leamy.

"I went to block Frederic Michalak who I thought was going to put his foot on it and Denis came through with the ball squirting out to Michalak.

"Their fourth try was the interception when I tried to pass to Brian O’Driscoll. I didn’t think it was that bad a pass but Heymans read it like a book and that was another seven points."