"NOT ONE invitation went out!" joked Maura Egan as her Clondalkin home was taken over yesterday morning by neighbours, friends, relatives and every media organisation in the country to join herself and her husband Paul as they watched their son Kenny Egan take on China's Zhang Xiaoping for an Olympic gold.
Word of the Egans' open-house policy had spread and, with bunting all along the street and camera crews parked outside the house on Woodford Downs from the early hours, there was no mistaking the home of Ireland's great Olympic hope as even those unaccustomed to such early Sunday hours arrived to watch history being made.
Egan's supporters packed out the living room and lined up under the trophy-laden cabinets in front of the big screen, while the kitchen took the overspill as the moment of truth approached.
With the kitchen television perched precariously on top of a chair on the counter to allow the hordes a view, some still stood on chairs and countertops to improve their vantage points.
While Egan's father Paul, recently back from Beijing, took pride of place in his kitchen, his wife Maura, bedecked in a green feather boa, stayed in the back garden as her son's big moment approached, kept abreast through the window by the scores of spectators.
So anxious were the tense supporters that a fried breakfast, courtesy of the local chippers, went virtually untouched as round one saw Kenny concede two punches. "Come on, Ken," went the cheers as their man scored three points in the second round, while his opponent maintained his lead with three of his own. There were mutterings about the "Chinese ballet dancer" as the fighters entered round three, where Egan closed the gap to two points. But when the final bell was rung with Egan four points down, the Neilstown posse refused to be downcast, and three hearty cheers went up for their local hero.
"He's still a champion in my eyes," said Egan's father as his neighbours clambered down from their perches. Frustrated voices rang out in the throng - "He was f***ing robbed, he was!" - but they hadn't lost their sense of humour. "No more Chinese food for me, Maura!" There were some misgivings as those present came to terms with the result.
"There was definitely unfairness there by those judges," said friend and neighbour PJ Povey. "He landed crisp shots and didn't get scores." Egan's uncle John Brennan's disappointment was tinged with pride at his nephew's achievements. "We're a small little bit disappointed but he behaved impeccably all through the fights," he said.
The maternal instinct was in full force as Maura reappeared in the kitchen to watch her son being interviewed after the fight. "Has he got a cut on his eye?" she asked indignantly as she peered at the television. "Hold me back! I'm going to China!" All eyes were back on the television screen as the 26-year-old Olympic medallist spoke to reporters in Beijing. "I hope I'm after doing them all proud at home," he said, and the responding roar of confirmation must have been audible all the way to the Workers' Stadium.
In the midst of the throng of supporters, Austin Carruth, father of Olympic gold medallist Michael Carruth, finally got his hands on a cup of tea. "Kenny is carrying on the tradition of all the great Irish boxers going back to the thirties," said Austin. "He has nothing to be ashamed of. He is now ranked number two in the world!"
Beside him, Michael's younger brother Fergal recalled the moment 16 years ago when it was his own brother up for a medal. "It was just like this, all the bunting on the road, everything," he reminisced, before being interrupted by a call from his famous brother who was then passed over to Maura so he could congratulate the hero's mother.
For Egan's girlfriend Karen Sullivan, the emotion of the morning's fight had clearly taken its toll, as she wiped tears from her eyes. "I'm upset and happy at the same time," she said. "I just thought he looked a bit upset himself, and that upset me."
While it appeared the RTÉ presenters were equally downcast, with Tracy Piggott announcing she was "gutted", the Egans refused to be cowed. "0h cheer up, for Jaysus' sake," Paul addressed an on-screen Piggott. "Nobody died!"
For the proud father, Egan's silver medal was a cause for celebration. "I'm chuffed!" he announced. "He'll be a bit down, I suppose, but as far as I'm concerned he done the business!"
As the champagne popped and the festivities began in earnest, Paul's wife Maura was enjoying her son's moment of glory. "It'll be a very boring life when all this is over," she admitted. As for her own celebrity status as mother to an Olympic medallist, she was already preparing herself for the paparazzi. "I'm knitting meself a balaclava!" she joked.
Olympic medals aside, as her son's long fight for the silver finally came to an end, the hero's mother was ready to celebrate the one thing she's been waiting three long weeks for. "Our Woodford Warrior is coming home!"