Jayce Simmons grimaced in pain as the Red Cross volunteer bandaged her ankle.

The wife of Ireland coach Phil had been sitting in the members' area at Malahide when Scotland opener Calum MacLeod peppered the long-off boundary with a six that struck her full on the ankle and required medical attention.

Her husband was experiencing a different kind of hurt, watching Scotland crush his Ireland side by eight wickets in the third and final one-day international at Malahide.

MacLeod hit a brilliant 116 not out, putting on 179 for the second wicket with Hamish Gardiner (89) to chase down Ireland's total of 241-9 with 26 balls to spare.

Scotland went down in the first two ODIs after losing the toss and being asked to bat in the morning dew at Malahide, but captain Preston Mommsen called right at the third attempt to finally give his side an opportunity to bat under the north Dublin afternoon sun.

And MacLeod took advantage to lead his side to a first ODI victory on Irish soil at the seventh attempt.

The Durham star says that it was a relief to finally bat in favourable conditions after their struggles in the first two matches.

"It has certainly been harder to bat first," he said. "It was was not so much the wicket as the early-morning dew. The ball nipped off the wicket, which created chances, but when the sun came out it became a beautiful wicket to bat on.

Mommsen was delighted with MacLeod and Gardiner's partnership, Scotland's highest second-wicket partnership in one-day internationals. "They batted beautifully together through the middle," he said. "They controlled the innings and set the game up for us. We know if Cloudy [McLeod] bats for a long time we will be scoring very healthily."

Ireland had been favourites at the halfway point after John Mooney's 96 from 77 balls had helped his side to 241-9 from their 50 overs.

In a radio interview the night before, the 32-year-old had spoken for the first time of his hospitalisation with depression, his struggles with alcohol, and his subsequent recovery programme after he left Ireland's tour of the West Indies in February to seek treatment for the illness.

"For the last number of years, I had started to withdraw from everyday life," he told Ireland's state broadcaster RTE. "Drinking excessively as well is never good - you're masking your feelings.

"When I was in the Caribbean, things had slipped personally for me and there was just no way I could go on with that tour."

Mooney, who says he used cricket as a release valve during the worst moments of his illness, seemed energised by the positive reaction to the interview as he posted the highest ODI score of his 10-year career.

Mooney combined ferocious straight hitting with delicate scoops and improvised switch hits, but just missed out on the ton when he was caught by backward point Richie Berrington off the penultimate ball of the innings.

Scottish celebrations were respectfully muted, as the Dubliner left the field to a standing ovation from his team-mates, the crowd and even some members of the press tent after falling just short of a maiden international limited-overs century.

Scotland's Majid Haq, wicketless in the first two matches, finished with ODI best with figures of 5-54 as the wearing Malahide pitch finally proved helpful to the spinner.

With the pressure off after securing the series win on Wednesday, the Irish batsmen attempted to be more expansive against Haq than in the previous two matches, and the 31-year-old took advantage of the opportunities offered to take his first five-wicket haul in ODI cricket.