A CASE of last out from the Falls Road turn out the lights'. Though tickets for the Mick McCarthy testimonial at Lansdowne Road yesterday were reputedly not sold north of the border, the 5,000 Scottish invasion was more than matched from across the border in a slightly staggering turn out of 40,069.
What followed was a celebration of all things Celtic and Irish, as a Republic XI beat Celtic 3-0, and a moving tribute to the Irish manager, who pocketed an estimated £300,000 from the day. A sizeable if undisclosed chunk of this will be donated to charities.
The adulatory throngs peppered the occasion with distinctly Celtic, upbeat renditions of the Fields of Athenry and one of the club's other anthems, A Grand Old Team. Located around the ground were banners proclaiming Irish/Celtic independence - Tiocfaidh Ar La and TAL - Larne Saoirse.
But the reception afforded McCarthy when he donned the green shirt he wore 57 times in competitive internationals and came on for the final 13 minutes left no room for doubt as to who was the centre of attention.
"Going on at the end, it was very emotional. I have a heart like everybody else," confessed the straight as a die Barnsley Irishman with a smile.
"I enjoyed the occasion very much. It was nice to meet up with some old friends and I'd like to thank Tommy Burns and Celtic for fulfilling the fixture. I knew there would be a lot of Celtic supporters. You don't know what to expect from testimonials but it was better than I could have imagined."
His counterpart Tommy Burns, who also rolled back the years by playing for the first 43 minutes, was effusive in his tribute to McCarthy. "It's a great day for Mick. That 40,000 people should have turned up says everything about the man. He's been marvellous for the clubs he's served with, and for the Republic of Ireland."
The match itself, a half hearted, typical end of season testimonial affair, was practically an aside - which is just as well. While sunglasses were merely an optional extra on another shivery afternoon, so too were the team physios.
A mere three fouls were committed in the entire proceedings and barely half a dozen tackles. Celtic particularly, didn't exactly bust a gut en route to losing 3-0 - their former keeper Shay Given denying them a consolation strike with five second half saves.
A neatly taken Niall Quinn goal was all that separated the sides until the infusion of five young substitutes shook up the home side (i.e. Ireland) a tad after the interval. Four of them, Mark Kennedy, Kenny Cunningham, Davey Savage and David Connolly combined for the latter - a newly recruited 18 year old of Irish parents on the crest of a scoring wave with Watford - to tuck home the second in advance of Terry Phelan's injury time finale.
Donning his managerial cap, McCarthy highlighted that as a major plus from a subdued encounter. "It was useful. Dave scored a goal for Ireland - brilliant. Players like Dave Savage got games. I know it's not Portugal or Croatia or Holland, but it was in front of 40,000 people. It's a big step up. You don't realise how Andy felt or I felt for the first 10 to 12 games. It takes you a while to get accepted into an international team and actually accept it yourself, be confident enough to demand the ball and go and run at people and do the things you do naturally."
"So there were one or two that got games and look at Al do, he didn't score for how many games, 13? It might have been nice for Aldo to score in a testimonial at the start. The hoodoo is gone for Connolly). The young lad scored. Fine.
Flanked by Andy Townsend and McCarthy, young Connolly was still in a pinch me I must be dreaming mode. All he had wanted was "to be part of the squad, whether I got a game or not. Sitting beside Andy and just to hear him say my name and say how pleased he is with how I'm doing is unreal.
"These were all heroes of mine. Sitting in the same dressing room as people like Paul McGrath is unreal. To come on and score was the icing on the cake."
McCarthy added; "I've been impressed by them all, They're all good footballers. They're young lads but they're not a shy bunch. They're a confident bunch so I think they'll be okay."
McCarthy confirmed that several of the emerging young tyros will play from the start against Portugal on Wednesday. Yesterday was a light hearted frolic: "Now it's down to business."
