They have climbed a mountain from last place in the 2023 Championship to third in the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
After last week’s 88-10 defeat to England, Ireland may have felt they had tumbled back down to Earth, but they showed they had what it took to complete their ascent.
“A lot of emotions, I am tired, I am relieved, I am just so happy, I don’t know how to explain it, sorry,” the back row laughed.
“It is even a phenomenal achievement from last weekend as well, we made sure that we regrouped, we all came together and we wanted this performance.
“Our captains spoke before the game and they said it will come down to the one today and I think we showed that with the last two minutes.”
Scotland took an early lead as Elis Martin dotted down from a lineout after just eight minutes.
The game began to get bogged down as the rain poured in Belfast but the clouds cleared for the second half and Ireland found their groove.
Katie Corrigan sprinted over to bring the hosts back into the game, but while Ireland dominated possession, Scotland were clinical in their attack.
Lisa Thomson delivered a fine line-break to move the visitors ahead once again before replacement hooker Cliodhna Moloney went over to again restore parity.
Ireland finally moved in front with six minutes of the game remaining, Dannah O’Brien with nerves of steel to kick what turned into the winning penalty.
Hogan, playing on her home ground as an Ulster native, was part of Ireland’s fine defence that came to the fore as Scotland pushed for a late winner.
The forwards in green finally forced errors out of Bryan Easson’s side to hold on for a famous win.
After Italy’s defeat to Wales , this game became a showdown for third place with more than just a top-half finish on the line.
Third also confirmed a place at the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 in England and a spot in the top tier of WXV.
Even though Hogan admits she did not know the full extent of what was at stake, she knew there was no way they were letting Scotland beat them.
Ireland stayed in the moment during the game but as the realisation dawned of achieving a return to the Rugby World Cup for Ireland for the first time since 2017, then they allowed themselves to dream.
She added: “I only got told that [about the World Cup] when I came over for the interview so I just can’t believe it, it is a dream come true.
“We all pride ourselves on the connection between our teams so we made sure we grounded ourselves, took a breath and focused on the next job.
“And I think that is really important that we stayed in the game and we didn’t want them to pass the line so they didn’t.”
