Soccer fans get the blues as Cup campaign hopes fade

THEY promised the French “hell at Croke Park” but instead find themselves on the Road to Perdition after Nicolas Anelka’s deflected second-half goal pin-balled its way to the net.

Now, just 90 minutes stand between Ireland and elimination when we travel to Paris on Wednesday for the return leg of the World Cup soccer qualifier playoffs.

It took 72 minutes on Saturday to kill the Croker carnival and silence 70,000 Irish Examiner clap banners used with great effect to urge the team on.

It took slightly longer to transform the stadium from a playing pitch suitable for footballers to a ground perfectly groomed to host an international rugby match.

In a remarkable 14-hour turn-around time, rugby fans who clicked their way through the turnstiles for yesterday’s clash between Australia and Ireland, saw no sign of the soccer posts or advertising displays evident the night before. A 150-strong crew had worked through the night to ensure the pitch was mowed and re-lined – magi-paint, easily removed, was applied – and the size of the playing field extended by one metre. By the time rugby fans began to arrive at the stadium yesterday for Ireland’s first international outing of the new rugby season, any evidence of the previous night’s game was wiped from everywhere but the arena of bad memories.

Up to 5pm yesterday, flipping a stadium from one international sport to another in such a tight timeframe looked like the most significant achievement in Croke Park this weekend. But a last-minute under-the-posts try from Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll, converted by flyhalf Ronan O’Gara, saved some Irish pride.