Gary Halpin obituary: Ireland has produced no player more widely loved on both sides of the Irish Sea

Gary Halpin’s sudden death ten days after his 55th birthday lends the tale of his only Test try and its immediate aftermath a poignancy felt by all who knew him

Gary Halpin pictured in 2019. Photo: Ryan Byrne

The longest missile Gary Halpin unleashed in the global arena flew for 63.08 metres across Rome’s Olympic Stadium during the 1987 World Athletics Championships. The scud landed with a thud some way short of rearranging the podium reserved for the three best hammer throwers on the planet.

In retrospect, it could be said that the 21-year-old from Kilkenny via the University of Manhattan was only warming up for a different event in a different sport on a different continent. Eight years later in Johannesburg he went suitably ballistic over the impact his guided strike had on the supposedly indestructible All Blacks.