Giddy Earls takes flight

WHEN the last successful Lions tour returned home in 1997, Keith Earls was nine-years-old. He sat in the sitting room of his Limerick home dreaming that one day, he’d get a chance to emulate the heroes of that tour.

“It’s hard to fathom what’s happened, Keith grew up watching those tours to places like South Africa, and New Zealand, and now he’s been selected for one. It’s hard to explain the feeling of it”, said his father Ger yesterday.

“His name was being thrown around the place the last few weeks and with Keith trying to concentrate on what he’s doing with Munster you try to shield him from that kind of thing.”