Beating the odds once again

IT WAS one of those crisp evenings we’ve had all this week: clear skies, not a hint of moisture in the air and temperatures in the red zone.

In the magnificent Piltown GAA complex in South Kilkenny, the lights around the sand-based full-size back pitch have turned night into day, and many of the De La Salle team that face Thurles Sars in tomorrow’s Munster club SHC final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow are already out on the field, in a tight circle, feet moving, tapping balls to each other. And out he trots, John Mullane, one of the first to have arrived in the car park and what comes to mind immediately is Cheltenham, a thoroughbred in prime condition. In common with most of his team-mates, there was no tracksuit bottom, not even a pair of those new leg-warming tights that have become so fashionable lately, no concession to the sub-zero temperature, but there’s grace in the easy movement, a suggestion of pace and power.

He was here on business, serious business — underdogs they may be, but John Mullane and De La Salle are in another Munster final, their second in three years, and have every intention of again overturning the odds and repeating the surprise success of 2007.