Spare us the blarney, my folk were from Kerry

WHEN the late Warren Zevon wrote “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me”, I’m thinking he wasn’t referring specifically to the Ireland rugby team of 2011.

Nevertheless, if you believe the tales of woe from some quarters of Ireland about the chances of their team in tomorrow’s match against the Wallabies, you’d figure the lyrics sit just right. I’m here to tell you, in this part of the world, we don’t buy it.

If there were a World Cup for courting the underdog status, there wouldn’t be enough cupboard space in all four provinces of your beautiful island to horde all the silverware. My grandfather was born in Ballyduff, Co Kerry and, as you surely know, Ballyduff won the All-Ireland SHC in 1891. What you probably don’t realise is the brave boys from Ballyduff were playing down their chances big time in the lead-up to the final. 120 years of practice, and you reckon we haven’t cottoned on to you yet? The heat down here makes us slowish, but we’re not that thick.