Sport with John Mulligan

Seventy Years of McHale Park:

Watch John Mulligan's online video interview commemorating the 70th anniversary of McHale Park.

TALKING RUGBY WITH JOHN MULLIGAN

What a day! What a weekend! And what a fool I made of myself on Saturday!

I am being honest when I say that I am currently writing this column with probably the biggest smile I have had on my face in a long time. For with my travelling companions we returned from Lansdowne road like victorious soldiers from the field of battle, with our spoils of victory (in my case, my match programme, my press pass and my Reflink – which gave us the opportunity to hear what the Ref was saying at all times) as we celebrated what was the finest performance from an Irish team In many years. When I was asked on Saturday evening to sum up the kind of day that I had, I could only come up with one word – Fantastic. It summed up a weekend that had started in fact many hours earlier on Friday evening as I headed for Westport to meet some close friends one of whom I hadn’t seen in a while. And finished on Sunday morning at an unearthly hour to the strains of the fields of Athenry with absolutely no sleep in-between. But this was not just a day for the international fans among us as a bunch of young boys also made the trip to Lansdowne road for an experience that none of them would ever forget.

St. Patrick’s Boys National School Appearance at Headquarters

I made my way to the press box to watch the lads from St Patrick’s boys national school from Castlebar take on the lads from Dromore in county Down. They most certainly didn’t let the side down with a display of tag rugby that impressed the many writers and broadcasters who had assembled at that time. In fact, one particular broadcaster said to me that he was very impressed with the skills of the Castlebar lads. And during the half time break of the International, the Ford transit minibuses were handed over to the representatives of both schools. So Many congratulations to all at St Patrick’s and long may it continue. As it happens there was a very nice moment as the lads were applauded as they made their way down through the train on the way back, a nice touch. Well done everyone.

IRELAND 20 ENGLAND 14

And so to the game itself, it was clear from the off that Ireland were up for it and in some surprising way England didn’t seem to be as fired up as they would normally be for a grand slam decider, but possibly the fear of the last two seasons got to them again as some silly mistakes started to slip into their usually solid game. it was England who drew first blood with a Johnny Wilkinson penalty after nine minutes. But they could not put their mark on the game as the Irish and especially Peter Stringer who was inspired at scrum half hassled, harried and became good old fashioned pains who were rewarded when David Humphries kicked over after 12 minutes to level matters. Six minutes later the whole of Lansdowne road erupted when Keith Wood got over the line for the only try of the game, collecting his own line out from O’ Kelly. Humphries added another penalty and Wilkinson got one back to leave the scores 11- 6 at half time. Something was Happening, we could feel it and the second half began like the first with the Irish defence causing more trouble and Humphries adding another on 48 minutes to leave the scores 14 – 6. England hit hard But Ireland hit harder and an incredible ankle tap from Stringer (whom in my book should have being given the man of the match award) denied Dan Luger a certain try and probably turned the game in Ireland’s direction. Wilkinson added another for England to keep them in it but the real action began with Humphries limping off with an ankle injury just as Ireland had being given yet another penalty leaving Ronan O Gara with a pure pressure kick. No problem to the Munster man as he extended the lead once again. The pressure really hit Ireland for the next 14 minutes, but O Gara once again came good with another penalty to put the scores 20 points to 9. The impossible was just a matter of minutes away but sub Austin Healy (who had come on to resounding boos from the Crowd), managed to breach the Irish line and with just four minutes to go, things were getting a little nervy. And so it did, the Referee (a certain Mr Honiss from New Zealand) Added an incredible 4 minutes of added time, as England once again attacked looking for the score that would have cruelly taken victory from the Irish. But it didn’t and so began the biggest party to be seen in Dublin for many a long year.

In hindsight…

As we left Lansdowne road on that evening one very important matter came to my attention. There was no gloating over victory or anything like that. There was a dignified joy to the Irish supporters as they (like me) walked back into the centre of town many of us with tears rolling down our cheeks as we tried to comprehend what had happened over the previous 80 minutes. I for one could not contain my joy as I made my report for radio that afternoon just as the referee had blown the final whistle and for those who wondered if I had tears in my eyes when I did it… I most certainly had and I have never found it so hard not to break down during a report. Hopefully it didn’t put people off but it may explain the importance of such a match.

Here’s to the new six nations season. But now its back to the important matters…

Local Scene

As regards local rugby this weekend there was very little with one very important exception that being the matter of Westport and Sligo in the Connacht senior cup second round that was played on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately it was not to be for Westport as they were beaten by 39 points to 3. But now they can concentrate on the rest of the AIL qualifiers in which they have an unbeaten record so far. By the time this column has been published Castlebar will have played their tie with Corrib but I won’t have a report on that one until next week. As regards the forthcoming weekend, Connacht are in action against Sale in the Sportsground on Saturday, one they can get a result from though it will be fair to say that the English team will be slight Favourites. I will have a full rundown of all games next week but until then ENJOY!