It wasn’t quite the auspicious homecoming that some had envisioned, but scores of Irish rugby fans were still pleased to see their battered and bruised heroes return to Dublin Airport after the disappointment of Sunday’s defeat to Argentina.
Following a hastily-arranged journey back from Cardiff aboard a small Stobart Air plane on Monday afternoon, the players eventually emerged from the recesses of Terminal One’s back exit to a crowd of waiting supporters.
The prevailing mood was less sombre than one might have expected following the 43-20 quarter-final defeat, as onlookers gave the players a raucous reception and clambered over railings to offer their commiserations and thanks for the team’s efforts over recent weeks.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt managed to succinctly sum up the mood: “It’s nice to be home, but it’s not something we planned to do for another two weeks.”
Naturally, some players looked worse for wear following a campaign with many injuries.
Others trudged back to their waiting cars without much hanging around.
However, Cian Healy, Jordi Murphy and Paul O’Connell, to name a few, were only too happy to sign autographs, jerseys and appear in pictures with grateful admirers despite the circumstances.
Speaking to the press afterwards, Schmidt praised the supporters for their fervour over the course of the tournament, and lamented the fine margins upon which games such as Sunday’s are ultimately won and lost.
“It’s incredibly disappointing for us, particularly in light of the amount of support we had - it’s been overwhelming,” he said.
Schmidt also addressed Ireland’s injury plight, which many believe led to the team’s downfall in the Argentina contest.
“I think losing Paul, talismanic as he is, we probably could have coped with it a little bit, but it was probably losing Pete [O’Mahony] and Johnny [Sexton] and Seanie [O’Brien] as well, that didn’t help.
“I’ve got the utmost respect and admiration for the guys who stepped into their massive shoes to fill, Chris Henry, Jordi Murphy, young Iain Henderson, [who] was one of the stars for us,” he said.
He reserved special praise for stand-in number 10 Ian Madigan, who started due to regular kicker Jonny Sexton’s injury.
There was no mention of the speculation linking the Kiwi coach to the vacant England role, but Schmidt did allude to next year’s Six Nations campaign.
“You can only turn your eye to the future and try to build something that would still be a little bit of history for us, if we could go back to back to back in Six Nations, which would be a massive challenge.”
‘Totally heartbreaking’
Among those present were Sue and Éanna Breathnach from Co Longford, who arrived on an earlier charter from Cardiff after attending the Argentina game.
“It’s heartbreaking, just totally heartbreaking. Don’t get me wrong, the lads put in a great effort regardless. It’s just unfortunate we couldn’t come up trumps at what proved to be the final hurdle,” Éanna said.
“If you had of told us [before the tournament] we’d put up big score margins in the early group games and come through a bruising game with France with flying colours like we did, we might have expected a bit more against Argentina, but what with the injuries and the poor start it just wasn’t meant to be,” he added.
There was no fairytale ending following the early promise shown in Ireland’s victories over Canada, Romania, Italy and France, but Frank Devlin, from Perrystown in Dublin, said the team’s arrival home was something that couldn’t be missed for his rugby-playing children Alannah (10) and Niall (6).
“It never even occurred to us not to come. The lads have given us great entertainment over these past few weeks.
“Look, it’s a side which has delivered two Six Nations wins in the last two years. They’re still a fantastic inspiration to the kids, although a semi-final appearance at least would have been nice!”