Party atmosphere sweeps aside pre-match worries

YOUGHAL native Daniel Moloney happily threw a rugby ball in the air in front of Brian O’Driscoll as God Save the Queen boomed around Croke Park.

Like the majority of the 82,000 in the crowd, the seven-year-old Irish team mascot did not care what anthem was played in the home of the GAA as long as his hero Ronan O’Gara and his fellow Irish men beat the team in white.

They duly did that in impressive style.