Ireland, who had won six of their last seven games against England, put a poor tournament behind them to play some of their best rugby in years, taking control early on thanks to a first half Tommy Bowe try and the steady boot of Jonathan Sexton.
Captain Brian O’Driscoll also broke the championship try scoring record and a shellshocked England — who only managed a second half try from hooker Steve Thompson — could lose out on the title if Wales beat France by 27 points in Paris (1945).
England, who won their last grand slam in Dublin with a resounding 42-6 victory eight years ago, looked more like the team that had performed poorly in successive championships since, but in truth, a rampant Irish team gave them no chance.
The hosts more closely resembled the Irish side who were the 2009 grand slam champions, pinning England back inside their half from the word go with flyhalf Sexton slotting two penalties inside the first 15 minutes.
Ireland were playing the kind of high tempo rugby they had struggled to find in the past two years and O’Driscoll thought he had broken Ian Smith’s 78-year-old championship try scoring record midway through the first period.
The score was ruled out for a forward pass but Sexton added an easy penalty before his opposite number Toby Flood missed a simple one of his own, though he wasn’t helped when the stadium announcer began to call a substitution as he got ready to kick.
Within a minute, Ireland had their try after second rows Paul O’Connell and Donncha O’Callaghan both hacked on before a quick tap penalty from man-of-the-match Sexton put wing Bowe in for his 17th international try.
Flood finally got England on the board five minutes before the break but Sexton quickly canceled out the penalty with his own three pointer after England scrumhalf Ben Youngs was sin binned for throwing the ball away.
That was to be Youngs’ last action of the game and he was replaced by Danny Care — yellow carded for a similarly stupid offense in Dublin two years ago — as soon as his 10 minutes in the bin were up.
Yet just as they had stood up against New Zealand in a tough defeat last November, the hosts continued to rise to the big occasion and O’Driscoll finally had his moment, touching down in the corner after 47 minutes.
Ireland made their first and only misstep shortly after when Thompson easily read Irish number nine Eoin Reddan’s pass to trudge over for a try that fellow replacement and the only other 2003 grand slam survivor Johnny Wilkinson was unable to convert.
Both sides had half chances as the rain teemed down in the closing quarter before Ireland left the field feeling a mixture of relief and jubilation, having received a much needed confidence booster ahead of September’s World Cup.
“We knew it was in us but for some reason it hadn’t happened in the first four games. Some parts of our game were very good but we couldn’t put it together in the full package,” O’Driscoll told the BBC.
“Today we played a smart game and an intense game and they couldn’t live with us.
“We said at halftime we wanted to put them to the sword and to score 24 points against this team is impressive and we’re very happy to finish the Six Nations the way we have.”
On his individual landmark, the center said: “It’s great, I’m very honored. Seventy eight years is a long time to hold the record but hopefully there’s a bit more rugby in me yet.”
While the visitors may still end the night as champions there will be little celebrating as their recovery under Martin Johnson, who captained England to their last title in 2003, has hit a serious speed bump.
“We’re desperately disappointed to have not won the game but also the way we lost it,” he said.
“Let’s take it on the chin, they outplayed us today. We had a horrible, horrible first half where we did everything you talk about not doing when you’re away from home
“We compounded errors, we knocked balls on. Pressure’s the name of the game. We got a lot of guys doing this for the first time - not a grand slam decider but playing a full championship.
“They’re a savvy team, they are full of pride and have a lot of experience. We got it very wrong today. They outplayed us and they deserved to win.”
