TOMMY BOWE COUNTRY:AS EXCITEMENT during Ireland's Grand Slam victory match on Saturday grew, a small pocket of the northeast was especially celebrating as Monaghan man Tommy Bowe capped a fine season with Ireland's second try.
The atmosphere in the county was palpable. Diane Wright of the Old Bar in Glaslough said: “It was unbelievable; the amount of people all around the village was great, all cheering for Ireland but especially for Tommy.”
Tommy is from Emyvale, just down the road from Glaslough village. His former club mates from Monaghan rugby club, where he began his career, were in Cardiff in strength. Well, at least 10 of them were there, the numbers kept down by the difficulty of getting tickets.
But most importantly, Tommy’s mother Ann, a physiotherapist in the area originally from Co Kildare, and his father Paul, a former Irish schools’ rugby cup winner, witnessed events first hand. Tommy’s sister Hanna, a former rugby player with Ulster ladies, was playing hockey in a tournament in Manchester on Saturday as her brother was performing heroics in Cardiff.
Mind you, the Monaghan club people who were in Cardiff say they are “slightly miffed” that the official match programme shows 24-year-old Tommy as being born in Craigavon, Co Armagh. At the time of his birth it was fairly common that mothers-to-be from Monaghan went to the North to give birth, but Monaghan will still be claiming him as one of theirs.
Monaghan Town Council and the county council are expected to hold a civic reception for Bowe when he returns this week.