They came in their droves, 39,000 of them, to Lansdowne Road yesterday to watch the final chapter in a story which, give or take the odd aberration, has held us spellbound these last sixteen years

Paul McGrath's time in the sun is up and Bertie Ahern was there to lead the tributes to one of the nation's most celebrated sporting ambassadors.

Appropriately, for a man who had, on occasions, torn up the script and done it his way, Paul didn't strip for the start and for an hour or so, it looked as if the crowd would be denied what they had come to see, the last historic day when he said his goodbyes in an Ireland shirt.

Eyes strained at every movement in the Irish dugout until at last, at four minutes past five, there was a flurry of activity and the great man was seen to emerge from the dressing room, togged out and seemingly ready for immediate action.

Again we were wrong. There, while the crowd roared his name and the primeval chants of `Ooh Ah Paul McGrath' cascaded around the stadium, he sat and fidgeted with all the uncertainty of a youngster waiting to make his first international appearance.

Finally, with just seven minutes remaining, he was ready to go on and we knew instantly, why the wait had been so long. Slowly, it seemed painfully, he moved towards his allotted role in central defence, as if walking on eggshells. And the first time, he stretched to take a pass, he was in visible trouble.

In all, he touched the ball no more than four or five times - and that was a mercy. The sap had at last run dry and weary legs which had sustained him all those years, had nothing more to give.

So, it was time to go and in a remarkable cameo, the other 21 players to a man stood and queued to say their personal thanks for his little miracle in dredging an extra ten years from his golden career.

By the time he went to the railway end of the ground to salute the supporters there, the goalposts were already down and in that, perhaps, there was an echo of another famous Dubliner, Sean O'Casey.

Tortuously, he then went to each side of the stadium to acknowledge his public while the Garda band belted out the anthem of Ireland's World Cup escapades and the crowd seized the chance perform their Ole, Ole bit.

Finally, with a hug from Mick McCarthy, his one-time comrade in arms, and a pat from Jack Charlton, his old gaffer, he disappeared down the tunnel and we knew for certain, there would be no coming back.

In almost 40 years of recording these rituals, it was quite the most emotive I have known, an occasion when the clock was fast forwarded and we knew we were looking at the last of a legend.

Estimates put the income from his testimonial weekend, which included a presentation dinner in front of 1,200 guests on Saturday evening, at more than £500,000, a fitting going away present for a man who gave so much pleasure to so many for so long.

Elsewhere, the level of commitment was more pronounced than is usual on these occasions, even if the original International selection was replaced in its entirety in the second half. True, the result the crowd coveted was denied them but there was still the consolation of watching Mark Kennedy go some way towards re-establishing his representative career.

The languid style is still the same but here there was evidence of the explosive shooting which first brought him to the attention of a wider gallery with Millwall in an FA Cup game against Arsenal some five years ago.

That was impressive but the strike of the day belonged to Gareth Farrelly who, for the second consecutive week, fired a shot as if from a siege gun and from 25 yards, the ball travelled at speed past a plainly startled replacement goalkeeper, Mart Poom.

Earlier, Rory Delap who combined cleverly with Ray Houghton on occasions, had opened the scoring for the home team in the 10th minute, an advantage which lasted until shortly before half time when Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke scored twice in the space of three minutes.

Farrelly's expansive goal established equality in the 81st minute but within seconds of Gerry Peyton, another olden oldie, taking over from Dean Kiely in goal, Dean Saunders poached a winner for the International selection in the 87th minute.