A hooley in Ballyhooly to celebrate local hero

FROM nine to 99, the small Cork village where Ireland prop Mike Ross was born has gone rugby crazy ahead of Saturday’s crunch Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash against Wales.

Little old ladies who knew nothing about the oval ball are eagerly swotting up on the game while children have booked their places in front of the TV for the 6am kick-off in the hope that a former pupil of their national school will help the men in green slay the dragon.

The reason for all the hype in Ballyhooly, Co Cork, is that Mike Ross, the fulcrum of the Ireland pack, comes from the small village and all his relatives still live there.

Mike’s father and mother, Frank and Patricia, have flown out to New Zealand for the game.

But before he left Frank revealed an interesting fact. In the 1970s he played at No 3 for Fermoy RFC. Playing at No 8 on the same team was a young army officer called Dick Heaslip, the father of the Irish No 8, Jamie.

“We’ve been pals ever since and often meet up for Leinster matches. I’m sure I’ll bump into him in New Zealand,” Frank said.

He’s hoping that’s a good omen. “I’m very happy with the way things are going. We could go the whole way to the final and then you’d never know what would happen,” he said.

Yesterday other members of Mike Ross’s family were mobbed by well-wishers when they visited Ballyhooly NS.

The children had decked out the school with posters of the legendary tighthead prop and most of them were wearing Irish jerseys.

Mike’s younger brother, Matt; uncle, George, and first cousin, Alan, said they were amazed at how the whole community was reacting to the prop and the whole team.

Matt, who plays for Cork Con, has been left in charge of the family’s dairy farm. The cows will have to wait to be milked. The match takes priority.

“Ballyhooly is predominantly a GAA area but we’re getting letters and calls of support from everybody,” Matt said.

George, who was also a handy prop in his youth, said Mike had put Ballyhooly on the map.

“It will be tight on Saturday but I think we’ll pip it and we have a great chance of making the final,” he said.

One of the first pupils to greet them was a boy called Brian O’Driscoll. Another good omen?

School principal Deirdre O’Brien said all her 144 charges had gone rugby crazy. “The Indian summer may have not materialised around here, but the team’s performance has brightened everybody’s lives,” Ms O’Brien said.

The local community council has decked out the village in posters showing Ross blowing away the Australians and similar posters have been put up in nearby Fermoy where he started his rugby career, aged 8.

Eoin Buckley, aged 11, who plays centre for Fermoy RFC summed up his fellow pupil’s feelings.

“Mike Ross is unreal. He’s an idol and he will definitely encourage more children to take up the game,” Eoin said.