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.