LEINSTER MAY still be the posh province of Irish rugby, but you’d have never have guessed it yesterday on the ferry from Rosslare to Fishguard.
The boat was packed with blue-shirted supporters, many of whom had to settle for a piece of the floor during the 3½-hour trip. And even apart from the lack of luxury, it was no place for Ross O’Carroll-Kelly.
The spread of regional accents alone would have sent him into culture shock. But if there was a dominant accent, it was not so much Terenure as Tullow, the town now famous for producing Leinster and Ireland flanker Seán O’Brien. Two busloads of fans from Tullow’s Tara Arms pub were aboard, wearing T-shirts with “O Brien No 7” on the back.
The county from which the boat sailed was well-represented too. In fact, as fans descended on Rosslare, they passed a banner from local GAA club St Mary’s wishing Leinster well. And the friendly relations between GAA and rugby in these parts was confirmed by the presence on the ship of Wexford football legend Matty Forde.
Forde used to play outhalf for Gorey RFC seconds and, according to his former captain, Mick Kelly, was “decent enough”.
It should be said, however, that not everyone on the ship was wearing blue, literally or otherwise. There were also a few in red, who threaten to be spectre at today’s feast. Munster fans can be hard to separate from their jerseys, even at Ireland matches. Explaining this, Kieran Ryan from Clonmel said he goes to the Heineken Cup final every year, regardless of who’s playing.
No, he wouldn’t be shouting for Leinster, he added. Nor would be cheer for their opponents. “I’ll just sit back and enjoy a good game of rugby.” Ryan and his friends were already looking forward to next week, when Leinster visit Limerick for what the red-shirted ones hope will be a crash course in humility. He admitted some concern that the balance of provincial power had shifted irrevocably.
Rubbing fingers and thumb together, he suggested darkly that Leinster had replaced Munster as the favoured recipients of IRFU funding: “There’s another horse being backed now.” At the height of its popularity, it was noted that support for Munster seemed to extend as far north as the M50.
These days, the eastern province is fighting back. Another sign of its new geographic reach was Colm Smyth, originally from Monaghan but also a committed Leinster rugby fan, thanks to his Dublin rugby-playing sons.
Not only does he attend Leinster games now, when such behaviour is commonplace, he was doing so 10 years ago, when it was still considered eccentric.
In any case, south Dublin was not entirely unrepresented, thanks to a group from Terenure. One of these, Gavan Costello, had noticed all the strange accents. “There’s a lot of boggers here all right,” he said, looking nervous.
However, he and his friends – twins Paul and Keith Elliott, Eoin O’Hanlon, and Andrew Buckeridge – were entering into the spirit of the new Leinster and spent last night camping near the river Taff. The lads are guests of Llandaff rugby club, which shares its playing space with the nearby cathedral. Hence the club’s crest: a bishop’s hat.
And hence the fine balance of Christianity and commerce by which the hosts are offering both a welcome and low-rent camping space for those in need.
The gang paid £20 for their city centre location, still a bargain when you added the cost of their four-man tent: €35 from Tesco.