Tailor-made Thomond provides everything but a win

MAYBE the excitement got the better of him. Either that or the pitchside MC at Thomond Park just isn’t much of a rugby fan.

Shortly after 7 pm, he walked out onto the pitch to ‘warm up’ the growing crowd and his opener was a doozie. “We’re getting ready for the biggest game here for a long, long time,” he boomed.

Oh yeah? Tony McGahan and the entire province of Munster might disagree with that, buddy. Not to mention the All Blacks. Or the hundreds of fans sporting rugby jersies, training kits and caps. Not just Irish green but Munster red and Wallaby gold.

Sporting ecumenism was assured by the presence of the odd Limerick GAA geansaí dotted around the place but they were few and far between. Saving themselves for Sunday, perhaps.

The MC compounded that first blip when introducing local legend Al Finucane to the stadium — his assertion that football was “extremely strong” in Limerick right now received no hop from the former Irish international.

“Unfortunately that isn’t the case,” said Al. Finucane touched another raw nerve, unwittingly it must be said, when he spoke about his hope that we would see many more Irish internationals under Thomond Park’s distinctive arches in the years to come.

Unfortunately, the FAI’s agreement with Aviva dictates that next month’s friendly against South Africa will be the last senior international held in Limerick, or anywhere else apart from Dublin, for the next ten years.

What a shame.

The timing of last night’s game could have been better — three days before the start of the Premier League? — but there was enough about last night’s affair to whet the appetite for further trips to the south-west.

An asking price of €55 for stand tickets meant that the ground was far from full but the terraces were well stocked and the standing areas running the length of the sidelines reminded you of the old Lansdowne Road, God bless her.

All in all, Thomond’s capacity of 26,500 is tailor-made for an occasion such as last night’s.

A crowd of 18,000 was predicted prior to kick-off and, while attendances are routinely announced during games in all codes in this country, there was no such confirmation of the numbers this time.

For the record, it was 19,428.

Unlike last November when the Irish rugby side played Canada, the weather behaved itself and the pitch fitted snugly into Thomond’s confines. Not at all like Croke Park where the distance between pitch and supporters hasn’t made for the most memorable of atmospheres.

Thomond proved superior to its Dublin cousin in one other, very important, way. When Ireland’s soccer team debuted at GAA HQ two years ago the ball bobbled about like a marble in a pin ball machine. Not here.

Incidentally, the first ever Irish senior international held outside the capital was back in 1939 when Ireland drew 2-2 at the Mardyke with a Hungarian side that had finished runners-up to Italy in the previous year’s World Cup.

Sixteen thousand squeezed into the Cork venue that day and only 1,000 less took in the only other game outside of Dublin, which was the 0-0 draw with Spain at Flower Lodge in 1985.

Giovanni Trapattoni would undoubtedly have preferred a 0-0 draw to take forward towards next month’s assignment away to the Cypriots.

Last night was the first time Ireland had either won or lost an international by more than a goal under the Italian but his record in these phoney battles hasn’t exactly been sparkling anyway.

This was the sixth friendly under Trap’s beady eye and the record stands today at: won one, drew three and lost two. For what it’s worth, the last time they lost one — to Poland — it was followed up by a 2-1 win against Georgia in Mainz.

No-one will care about last night’s result if history repeats itself in Nicosia, especially in light of the many traumas and scares our Mediterranean friends have subjected us to in the past under Brian Kerr and Steve Staunton.

That said, a goal for the home team wouldn’t have hurt. Like, when was the last time Munster or Shannon were held scoreless at Thomond?