There was a gathering of the great and the good of international rugby last Saturday when Sir Anthony O'Reilly organised a memorial service in the private chapel in the grounds of his home, Castlemartin, Co Kildare, for the late Andy Mulligan. O'Reilly shared a room with him on tour with the Lions.
The congregation included Jack Kyle, Cliff Morgan, Jim McCarthy, Mick English, Gerry Culliton, Noel Murphy, David Hewitt and Tom Kiernan. Two non-internationals who attended were the head of the EU office in Dublin, Peter Doyle, and a former head, Denis Corboy. Mulligan ran the Commission information services in the US, a post both Doyle and Corboy also held at one time.
After an elegant lunch around the pool, the gathering spent the afternoon telling rugby yarns in which Mulligan featured prominently. One of the rugger set reminded old colleagues how, when Mulligan went for a job interview, he was asked what religion he was. "What religion have you got in mind?" he replied.