A Boston View of Wanderers Tour.
09/05/2007
North Shore RFC 2007 Tour to Dublin.
Today Tuesday, May 8th, Wanderers FC will have arrived home in Dublin after visiting Boston for two games, one of which was a return match with North Shore RFC with whom a terrific game was played at Merrion Rd. in February and again at GEAA Field last Thursday, May 3rd. under lights.
When North Shore arrived in Dublin by Coach from Limerick we checked into the Herbert House Hotel on Lansdowne Road which is owned by Wanderer, Johnny Loughran, who took care of us very well indeed. Fortunately the hotel was close to the American Embassy as it was Friday and one of the lads had dropped his passport and needed a temporary replacement immediately or he would not be traveling home on the Monday! The good brother Niall came to the rescue and got a couple of the lads to the Embassy and then on to meet the team at the Guinness Storehouse for the obligatory tour. The passport was later found at Shannon Airport and turned in, and the owner was notified when he checked in at Dublin Airport on the way back to Boston. This was the weekend of the Ireland v England game at Croke Park so it was a good time to be in Dublin, the city was a buzz! The group split up and went to different pubs with the intent on arriving in Donnybrook for the Ireland Club XV v England Counties game, which was a good game to watch and an experience for North Shore players to see a high level game up close. After the game we moved on from the Old Wesley bar to Crowe’s Pub in Ballsbridge for a pint and then back to the Herbert House Hotel. Saturday morning arrived pretty quickly and everyone was up early for breakfast to get a jump on time prior to the game with Wanderers, and as it turned out…….San Sebastian! We assembled in front of the Hotel and waited for our tardy Kiwi contingent…we were walking..…so we grabbed our bags and hit the pavement toward Merrion road….leaving the Kiwi’s to follow by car. The walk down Merrion Road, being familiar to me in a “variety of conditions” over the years brought back memories of good times. As we rounded the entrance to Merrion Road it brought a great feeling of pride to me personally to be leading a team down the driveway to play Wanderers at home. We were met by Paul Whelan and Dom the Wanderer’s J3 Coach who made everyone very welcome. The San Sebastian team were there also, a good bunch of friendly lads. Being on tour I had a new pair of boots along with me and there was a spot on the Crowbars side as they were waiting on a few stragglers to show up, Paul Whelan said no problem come on out for a game….not having played for twenty-four years (some will say never played at all!) but with the intention of at least taking a few minutes with North Shore against Wanderers... the opportunity was accepted for twenty winded minutes while putting in an extra effort of course because Andy Whelan injured his forearm on my nose while warming up and was probably in pain! It was great to be on the field with the Whelan and the Kenny brothers and John Hunt. My nephew Pete must have had a good laugh with his Dad and my daughter on the sidelines, as well as the North Shore lads!
The Wanderers v North Shore game, for those who saw it, was a game played in the best of spirit and it was a good hard fought match full of running rugby in which North Shore led until about ten minutes to go when a driving maul by Wanderers forced a try in the corner. While we were disappointed to lose we knew that it had been a terrific game and was excellently refereed by Jonathan Roche-Kelly.
The post-match festivities were about to begin. Unfortunately North Shore, having played in the second game, followed San Sebastian to the changing rooms only to discover that the Basques (or a word that sounded similar) had swiped our post game beer from the changing room…Dom was on the ball and got the lads another case of beer….meanwhile one of our lads retrieved half of the missing case from San Sebastian….no harm done….plenty of beer was on hand! Wanderers served a great meal afterwards thanks to Bob Wynne and Dave Davis who must have had a hectic day with so many visitors at Merrion Road. It was good to see many of the usual faces, Clive Hopkins, Billy Crooks, George Benn and Vinny Savino at the Clubhouse staying involved through thick and thin and especially now with this upsurge in Wanderers successs’s on the pitch at all levels. After the team presentations which were emceed by Joe Macdermott it was on to Croke Park for a memorable Six Nations game, where we met more Wanderer’s. After the game we walked to Mulligan’s for a quick pint and then on to Deego’s Scruffy Murphy’s to meet up with the tour group. Sunday was a free day until meeting again at Scruffy’s at around 7.00 p.m. in the evening and a final pint at Crowe’s before heading back to the Hotel. North Shore walked the reluctant walk to Jury’s early on the Monday morning to catch the Air Coach to Dublin Airport and on to the tour’s end in Boston.
Wanderers FC 2007 Tour to Boston
Rugby tours end all too quickly! The Wanderers Tour squad led by the “Two Doms” as Captain and Coach and of course Jim Doddy, Aidan Deegan and Joe Macdermott further strengthened the link between the two clubs at the Junior level. The old and the new….1870 and 2002! It was terrific to meet up with the Wanderers lads again, a great bunch, one of whom almost fell off of his bar stool when I told him that I had played with his Dad…….Hugh Hamilton….I was as startled as he was… that this was Hugh’s son!! A great time was had by both teams at O’Brien’s Pub in Lynn after the match. These Mini-tours are certainly one way for rugby to maintain the true spirit of the game in the age of professionalism. It was a great honour for North Shore RFC to return the hospitality afforded us by Wanderers in Dublin. Bobby Brophy’s saying of “once a Wanderer, always a Wanderer” does ring very true.
