Jack Conan admitted Ireland didn't produce a "vintage performance" against Wales but was delighted as the team picked up the Triple Crown.
The hosts, who came in on a 14-game losing streak, gave Ireland a massive scare in Cardiff, leading with 56 minutes on the clock before conceding 17 unanswered points.
"I don’t think there was anything in us taking them for granted. They really showed up today.
"We had to dig unbelievably deep, we let them off the hook a couple of times with penalties and that.
"It’s a testament to them sticking in it but we know we have to be better.
"We spoke about it during the week, how little we’ve actually won here over the last 10 years so great to get the win."
Following victories over England and Scotland, the 27-18 win sealed a 14th Triple Crown for Ireland.
"We spoke during the week about how difficult it is to win them," added the 32-year-old Leinster back row.
"There was a time in Irish rugby when they were few and far between so it’s not something we take for granted and hopefully now to springboard.
"We’ll take our lessons and be better for the next few weeks."
Meanwhile, new captain Dan Sheehan said it was a massive honour to lead out his country for the first time.
"Incredible privilege to lead that bunch of men," said the Leinster hooker, who deputised for the injured Caelan Doris.
"There's probably anyone in that team could have led it and there are huge leaders in the team.
"It was a huge honour to be given the opportunity to be able to lead the side this week.
"A tough one to lead today but that's exactly what we talk about all week, preparing for the moments when things aren't going your way and how calm we can stay in those moments and get ourselves out of it.
"Tricky game but nice to get out on the right side."
Ireland conceded four first-half penalties at the scrum and Sheehan (above) admitted it was a source of concern.
"The dark arts of scrums probably were at play there," he said.
"We wanted to get a fair contest and it was just struggling to get nice entries. I was probably asking [the referee] just to make sure that we get clean entries before anything happened.
"We obviously had to adapt a little bit and it probably took us a few scrums to figure it out. We probably need to be better on that front and be able to fix it after the first one.
"It was a big turning point in the game, it definitely gave them a lot of momentum, a lot of access, thankfully were sorted it out at the end of the game and we were able to close it out of the back of it."
Ireland next play France in two weeks’ time in Dublin.
