Although it seemed as if Ireland would enjoy the perfect farewell to Croke Park thanks to Brian O’Driscoll’s early try Scotland soon hit back through Johnnie Beattie’s score.

And Scotland capitalised on their superiority at the set-piece and Irish handling errors to establish a 17-7 lead early in the second half before Dan Parks landed the winning penalty a minute from time.

“You'll never improve as a side unless you try things, but we weren't trying things for the sake of it,” said Kidney.

“We knew we had to go after Scotland to try and beat them and it's vital that we keep trying these things because we won't beat anybody unless we do.

“First and foremost it was about winning and trying to get a result, but we tried things that didn't come off. The error count went against us.”

It was a bitter conclusion to a Six Nations that Ireland started with such high hopes following their Grand Slam success last year.

And Kidney admits Ireland let down their fans following the hype and expectation that greeted their final outing at Croke Park.

“We feel like we've let a lot of people down and that's not a nice feeling,” he added.

“It's hugely disappointing. I can't put into words the way we feel. Like everyone else we wanted to leave Croke Park on a good note.

“You want to win trophies but we didn't. These things happen in life.

“There were so many people depending on us - supporters and the whole country.

“It's a very disappointing place to be at the moment but these fellas are very resilient.

“We made mistakes, but we made mistakes trying things. Now we have to work on not making mistakes when the pressure is on.”