Gardaí save Munster from Friday the 13th nightmare

IT WAS Friday the 13th - so something was almost bound to go wrong.

It did, and Munster arrived in Italy last night six hours behind schedule. Without the help of the Garda Síochána, it could have been even longer.

Munster’s preparations for this evening’s match with Viadana were severely disrupted as fog descended on virtually the whole of Cork yesterday morning but, more importantly, on Cork Airport.

The best-laid plans lay in ruins. It was decided to charter a flight rather than take the long way through Europe on scheduled services and have a double hop between Shannon and Cork to suit everyone.

The second part of the plan, the return leg, is still a runner but the first half was dashed after hours of waiting and hoping in Cork.

The check in started in Shannon at 8.30 am yesterday and an hour later in Cork.

By noon, things were looking good, but an hour later, the players and supporters were on their way to Shannon by bus.

The sun did its level best to burn off the fog but even that gave up in the end.

Munster team manager Jerry Holland did, however, manage to pull off a master stroke by organising buses for the players and supporters and they travelled in convoy with a Garda motor-cycle escort leading the way.

Without ever once breaking the speed limit, the Munster party made it from airport to airport in what must have been a record 117 minutes, taking account of the dreadful driving conditions.

Thousands of tons, in the form of articulated trucks, hundreds of law abiding drivers and a few boy racers in fancy sports cars were summarily dispatched to the side of the road by the outriders.

The press and supporters and, more importantly, the team got to Shannon in time and the whole crew arrived in Parma airport last night at about 7pm Irish time.

They were tired, but relieved.