'Faz let the families come in': Ireland debut will stay with Paddy McCarthy

"The contacts definitely were bigger. If you went into a breakdown, there's All Black bodies just flying in and into you."

Paddy McCarthy came off the bench to play 12 minutes against the All Blacks in his Ireland debut. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Andy Farrell’s Ireland team tried to make their way through the steady Sunday evening foot traffic of Terminal 3 at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport as inconspicuously as possible. It was as challenging a prospect as anything they’d faced the day before as bars and gate areas thronged with green commuters. Some making their way home the long way via London, Toronto, wherever. Many returning to adopted homes across the US.

Paddy McCarthy was among the squad heading towards the K gates to catch the direct red-eye back to Dublin. The prop traversed back across the Atlantic a different man than the one who’d come over the week before. He is now a Test international with a cap in the bag to prove it.