As Ciarán Frawlery's dropgoal squirted its way over the posts to seal an incredible comeback win against the Springboks this evening, those comments started to feel more like a threat than a tribute.
"It was the sublime to the ridiculous, wasn't it? It was a complete role reversal of last week," Farrell said, after his side's incredible 25-24 win over the world champions this evening.
For the first 40 minutes, Ireland were as good as they have been since the opening round of the Six Nations.
Farrell didn't hide the fact that he had given his side a rollicking during the week for their sluggish start to last week's first Test, but the tourists dominated the opening 40 in Durban.
Having led 16-6 at half time, Ireland's discipline fell apart after the break, and Handre Pollard kicked South Africa bit by bit into a 24-19 lead, all through penalties, before Ciarán Frawley's dropgoal heroics.
"First-half performance not too great last week; this week, I thought it was outstanding, as good as it gets," Farrell said.
"But second half last week was good , this week we’ve made enough mistakes to lose three games in that second half.
"But you just know when you’re hanging in there that there’s always going to be a chance with this team because of the guts, the bravery they’ve got and they showed that in spades."
The Ireland head coach went to his bench early in Durban this week, and it was an Ireland team with Ciarán Frawlay and Caolin Blade in the half-backs that led the comeback.
Farrell was delighted with the composure shown by Frawley in the build-up to the winning dropdgoal, after he had parked a pool kick to touch just moments before landing the winning points.
"He kicked a ball out on the full on a cross-field kick to get his composure back, and then we delivered the play.
"Stu McCloskey does unbelievably well to take the space and roll the ball in there and tackle someone into touch, is great play – to put pressure where it needed to be at the end of a Test match like that.
"But you still need guts. He had the guts in the first place to do the first dropgoal and I thought it was immense how he had the courage to take it early, so fair play to him."
For much of the second half it looked like the wheels were falling off for Ireland, who saw captain Caelan Doris (above) yellow-carded for a croc-roll on Malcolm Marx in the second half, during which time South Africa tagged on nine points off the tee.
But Farrell was quick to praise his captain for his performance elsewhere, as he set the physical tone during the impressive first half.
"Well, he [Caelan] epitomised it. He had a magnificent game. He was outstanding throughout, like he was last week. He’s in great form.
"But we asked the lads – you know when there’s a brick wall in front of you? It shows your character, how hard you carry, when there’s not much that’s on for you.
"He ran so hard on one of the collisions, he got absolutely smashed but he got up and went again and again and again, and that’s proper leadership. When your captain is doing that, others tend to follow," Farrell said.
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