Moss Keane

I remember my first international at Lansdowne Road, the morning spent rattling down to Dublin in the old Larne Grammar mini-bus and being dropped off near O’Connell Street. Spending the next couple of hours trying to sneak away from our teachers to grab an illicit pint, and the teachers probably wishing we would sneak away so they could grab one for themselves!

4th March 1978 and a glorious gifted but decidedly thuggish Welsh side were in town on their way to securing the Five Nations.

The match ended 16 – 20 with the Welsh edging it and I have in the back of my mind that Gibson and Slattery were playing amongst other legends but I can’t be sure.

One man I do know was there was the mighty Moss Keane as I’ll never forget being picked up and carried twenty yards forward by the surge of the crowd as the mighty Munster man hacked his way up field in one of his famous footrushs’. The exhilarating experience still sends shivers down my spine as I think of it now and picture in my minds eye the Green Giant hoofing the ball past another despairing dive from a Welsh player.

How sad I was to read that the great man had passed away today at the comparatively young age of 62.

I was fortunate enough to meet Moss Keane a few years later when I was at college in England and I’d to collect a pair of tickets from the Irish hotel on the morning off their famous 15 – 16 win against England at Twickers on their way to the Triple Crown. Popping into the Grosvenor a couple of hours before kick off I was surprised to see the Irish team still there but even more surprised to see a few in the bar with Moss Keane sipping on a pint “to loosen up”. I took the opportunity to shake his massive hand and wished him luck.

Can’t remember how he played in a game dominated by the boot of Hugo MacNeill and Marcus Rose but the game was already changing and sadly didn’t have room for characters like Keane for much longer – a loss to rugby and a loss to life.

Thanks for the memories big man.