Hundreds of rugby fans depart Cork Airport for Ireland and New Zealand's Paris showdown
Coach Adrian Murphy and young members of Nenagh Ormonde RFC in Tipperary departing Cork Airport for Paris. Not only will they be supporting Ireland against New Zealand on Saturday night, but they will also make the South Africa v France game. Picture: Eddie O'Hare
More than 1,000 Irish rugby fans have departed Cork Airport this week as part of a mass exodus off the island for Saturday night's big Rugby World Cup showdown against New Zealand in Paris. Some, like coach Adrian Murphy and his underage charges from Nenagh Ormonde RFC in Co Tipperary, even have the double dream of tickets for the other blockbuster quarter-final, France v South Africa.
The Nenagh group will attend both matches, having booked a package through Killester Travel.
Adrian Murphy said they started planning the trip two years ago. “It’s an opportunity we couldn’t miss as it will be many years before the world cup will be held in the Northern Hemisphere again,” he said.
His colleague William Talbot expects a huge Irish crowd at Saturday night's game. “Ireland (to win) by two points and France by seven,” he predicted.
“We’ve been putting €50 each per week into a special kitty for the last 18 months for this,” said Eoin Nash from Ballincollig, Cork.
Eoin, a member of the Munster Supporters Club, and three Cork friends were heading out for the game. He held his stag weekend with the same Cork lads – Michael Herlihy (Kinsale) and brothers Michael Marshall (Mayfield) and Leonard Marshall (Douglas) – in France in 2007 to coincide with the Ireland v France game in that world cup.
Audrey Callinan from Ballinlough, who works in the Bons Secours Hospital, and her friend, Gertrude Ahern, an accountant from Belgooly, have been supporting Andy Farrell’s team from the the very start of the tournament.
“We were in Bordeaux for the Ireland game against Romania and then flew out again for the Tonga match in Nantes,” Audrey said.
Gertrude said they’re also going to the other big quarter-final but it’s a pity that the top four teams are clashing at this stage in the competition.
Lourda Clane and her niece Aileen Cass, both from Shannon, Co Clare, are pretty confident of an Irish win.
“The team seem so happy, chilled and calm," said Lourda who has travelled to many Munster matches.
“I’m calm at the moment, but I will be a bag of nerves come the kickoff,” added Aileen.
Lorraine Cremin from Leamlara, Co Cork was travelling with her friend Julie O’Mahony who is from the nearby village of Lisgoold, but works as a bartender in Boston.
She got a flight back from the US to Ireland only a few hours earlier so she could accompany Lorraine, a director of a number of hotels, to the big match.
Unlike others, they only started planning the trip five weeks ago.
It could be a good omen; Lorraine was at the Soldier Field Stadium in Chicago in 2017 when Ireland first beat the mighty All Blacks.
“I think this will be a tight game, but we will edge it,” she said.
There were also a couple of Irish-based New Zealanders braving the flights out of Cork on Friday.
One was Kieran Verryt, a native of Auckland. A few years ago, the 45-year-old came to Ireland, married an Irish woman and settled in Glounthaune, Co Cork.
“I’ve been to several All Blacks matches but never before when we were considered as underdogs, as is the case this time. I hope the All Blacks win, but actually think it will be Ireland,” Kieran said.
Three fully booked flights are departing Cork on Saturday for Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport operated by Aer Lingus, Air France and the charter AeorItalia.
Cork Airport spokesman Barry Holland estimated that more than 1,000 fans had gone through the airport on their way to the match.
“If they couldn’t get direct flights, we know they got connecting ones via London, Manchester and Frankfurt," he said.
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