A thrilling triumph for men in red and great work by the boys in blue

THE Fields of Athenry aren’t so lonely now. In fact, in years to come those fields will be packed with more than the 70,000 who were actually present because the bewildered will try convince their grandchildren that — as Max Boyce is wont to say — “I was there”.

The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff last Saturday will have more armchair rugby fans for Munster’s historic Heineken Cup win over Biarritz than the GPO had armchair patriots in 1916.

But the spectral attendance in Cardiff won’t be prompted by anything as venal as the possibility of a mere pension.