Come on the Irish!

IT might be difficult to surpass Thursday night’s heroics when our soccer team beat world champions Germany in Dublin, but tomorrow every Irish sports fan will be spoilt for choice — and have an opportunity to undergo a self- administered heart health check.

Hostilities commence at 4.45pm when Ireland and France meet in Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in a game that had been targeted by Joe Schmidt and his team since the Rugby World Cup draw was made three years ago. It is by any standard a day of reckoning for Irish rugby.

Later that day — at 7.45pm — our soccer team take on Poland in Warsaw’s Stadion Narodowy but Martin O’Neill’s team horizon is far more complicated than Joe Schmidt’s and he is not entirely the master of his own destiny.

It is something to celebrate that we can be at least hopeful, if not overly confident, that we are more than capable of success in both fixtures. Even if we do not realise the dream, Monday may not be the most productive work day of the year in Irish businesses. Nevertheless, Come On The Irish!