The morning after the day before and Mullinalaghta are still in a state of shock.
When the smallest GAA club in Longford is trending worldwide on Twitter, is being mentioned on the news in the same breath as Munster and Castres and is being talked about by the Taoiseach, the sense of shock is hardly a surprise.
It’s uncharted territory for these lads.
But that sense of shock and that uncharted territory only underlines further the scale of what they’ve achieved and when it does eventually sink in, they’ll be proud of the amazing feat they’ve accomplished.
For a club of their size; one of Ireland’s smallest, to beat one of Ireland’s biggest and to become Leinster champions in doing so is something special, it’s something inspiring and it’s something so bloody refreshing.
It’s a reminder for every other small club in Ireland that, if they put in the hard work, if they put the systems in place that Mullinalaghta did and if they get a few breaks along the way, that they can achieve big too.
And that’s one of the best things about all of this.
The history-making Longford club’s captain, Shane Mulligan joined Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour Show on Monday and he talked about the reception they received and what it all means.
“We did, we got bonfires all the way home. The bonfires were burning brightly all the way down, the Longford pipe band came out and met us too, great scenes, great colour, great noise and a great atmosphere.”
Unlike Gaoth Dobhair, however, the lads plan to keep the celebrations under the radar.
“We’d be doing it all low key, we’d stay under the radar, that’s the way we like to do it down here, to keep it all in house, hush-hush, concentrate on what’s ahead of us,” he said.
"I don’t even know if there’s wifi here to upload them anyway"
Why we won't see as many videos from Mullinalaghta as we saw from @gaothdobhairclg 🤣
Shane Mulligan on the problems in rural Ireland 😝
w/@paddypower pic.twitter.com/pQK8RuKP7a
— The GAA Hour (@TheGAAHour) December 10, 2018
Even if they did want to let the world know about their celebrations, he worries weather the wifi connection in Keogh’s pub would be strong enough to upload a video.
“I don’t even know if there’s wifi that we can upload them with anyway. There’s only one pub in Mullinalaghta, the post office has closed, thankfully the GAA has gotten stronger because it’s a focal point for the community, the parish and it keeps us all together.”
Together they are and as you can imagine, the team’s WhatsApp has been some craic in the meantime.
“It’s phenomenal, the things are all going up on the team WhatsApp, about Leo Vardadkar commenting on it there, and they’re talking about it on the news, and then they’re going, ‘in other sporting news, Munster beat Castres, it’s phenomenal, it’s crazy the way it’s taken off.
“It’s great fun, we’re not out again now until next February in this competition so we can savour it right over the Christmas and everything.”
The club did share one video though, and the team’s corner forward Jayson Matthews is still belting out their own version of Allez Allez Allez.
@KCASS7 party in full flow! Thanks for the support all year 👍🏻 pic.twitter.com/d0tXwNjRIA
— Mullinalaghta GAA (@TheLaurelsM) December 10, 2018
That’s what it’s all about.
You can listen to the Mulligan interview and much more from Monday’s GAA Hour Show here.
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