This team won’t be denied for long

SPEAKING to a very obviously disappointed Marcus Horan on Sunday evening, I asked him which hurt more: the fact that they had lost this historic game at Croke Park, or the fact that they had lost a Six Nations match, and another chance at history, the fabled Grand Slam.

A combination of both, he said, but as he elaborated it was obvious which hurt more. The Grand Slam, a feat achieved only once in Ireland’s long and proud rugby history, achieved before even I was born. The year was 1948 when Jackie Kyle, Karl Mullen, and 13 others wrote their names into Irish sporting folklore; since then, only frustration.

I’m with Marcus on this one. Certainly I’d have liked to see Ireland open their Croke Park rugby chapter with a win, but that was very much secondary to the real event. More than anything, I wanted to see Ireland stay on course for a Grand Slam. I wanted to see this particular team stay on course. Didn’t happen.