Mick Cleary: Who will step up to be England's Mick Galwey? 

England are in need of a Mick Galwey - who will step up to the mark?

OVER HE GOES: Mick Galwey scores a try against England in their Five Nations clash in 1993. Ireland won 17-3, a result that scuppered the Lions prospects of several Englishmen. Picture: David Maher /Sportsfile

Who is England’s Mick Galwey? Or England’s Keith Wood and Paul O’Connell? Who, in the name of Jesus, is going to help upset the odds, the most one-sided England-Ireland fixture in prosect that many of us can ever recall. Yes, yes, we of a certain vintage can remember Foinavon ploughing home in the Grand National at 100-1, or Buster Douglas doing an unexpected number on Mike Tyson but even so, it’s hard to summon anyone to the witness stand to plead England’s cause with conviction. At such times in the media trade it is common practice to submit a ‘Five Reasons Why Ireland Should be Wary of England,’ feature piece. Number one is ‘The Law Of Sod.’ In short, wouldn’t it be typical of the bloody English to spoil the historic Grand Slam possibilities? Er, and that’s it, the entire case for the defence.

It is such a weird scenario for those who grew up in other times, an era when it was Ireland who had to play the role of disruptors, spoilers, the snarling underdog, the dispossessed rising up in arms against the coloniser, all those old tropes being brought into play to shape the heroic narrative, the usurper usurped.