Frank Hadden's side led by five points with 14 minutes left

Hadden said the result was "tough to take" after Scotland had taken a five-point lead with 14 minutes left.

"Today and (the Italy match) were big setbacks," said Hadden.

"We expect to win our home games. We've got a team that's good enough to win them and it's a big disappointment that we haven't delivered."

Interview: Scotland coach Frank Hadden

With next Saturday's game against France in Paris to come, Hadden's side are in danger of finishing the campaign with the Six Nations wooden spoon.

However, Hadden said that his side were capable of producing a good performance next weekend.

"I'll be bitterly disappointed if we don't perform next week. Three (bad) games in a row, that would be too much to take.

Any time we tried to put our stamp on the game we just weren't accurate enough Scotland coach Frank Hadden

"I thought we just about did enough to deserve the win today, but the biggest disappointment was the quality of our performance.

"It wasn't as accurate and precise as it needed to be to beat a side of Ireland's quality.

"I think we would only discover today how much confidence had been knocked out of the players by the Italian match.

"I was surprised and disappointed at the way in which we started the game.

"I thought we stood off them and showed very little initiative, and we didn't grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

"Any time we tried to put our stamp on the game we just weren't accurate enough.

"Ultimately, that's what cost us."