“He’ll be back… he’ll be back.”
The elderly Connacht supporter was in the thick of a farewell thrall, his wife beside him.
Almost 20 minutes after the match had ended, John Muldoon had finally made his way through the gap at The Clan Terrace and had his right arm raised in salute to the baying crowd. The Connacht fan assured his wife that Muldoon would one day return to The Sportsground.
You got the feeling that those words were said for himself than for those nearby. Muldoon was leaving but surely he would be back.
The jokes and reminiscing had begun long before Connacht kicked off their final game of a disappointing season against a Leinster side already in a Champions Cup and so far ahead in the PRO14 playoff picture that they could afford to rest a slew of their top names.
One reporter joked about us all still being here at midnight as Muldoon is known for his long, emotional speeches. Another pointed out the area of the pitch where he had once convinced a referee there was still time to kick a penalty to touch despite the clock having long turned red.
‘Mul’ was hanging up his playing boots after this one and there was no team he would rather lay it all on the line against, one final time, than Leinster.
Had he wanted, he could have easily retired after leading the province to the PRO12 title, at Murrayfield, in May 2016. He had been with the province from 2002 and, in his first season, took part in the marches to the IRFU offices when the union wanted to get rid of Connacht completely.
Munster had been the team to beat in those early years but Leinster were never far away. Muldoon, teammates old and new will tell you, was never as fired up for a game as he was when Leinster were up. They were the seat of power. The team that got mountains of media attention. They got most of the money and the praise. The Leinster lads were easier to watch so got more Ireland call-ups.
That may have driven Muldoon for many years but he began to look inward and see that Connacht, first under Eric Elwood and then Pat Lam, were beginning to put something good together. There were famous Heineken Cup wins on either sides of losing streaks and late heartaches but Lam’s arrival, in 2013, was the catalyst for success.
Muldoon and Connacht put it all together in 2015/16 and scorched all comers in a superb, title-winning run-in. It was the culmination of 14 seasons hard work for the Portumna native but on he carried. A return to the Champions Cup and then one more season of putting his body through the wringer while Kieran Keane got settled.
April 28th was the end, however, and Connacht needed to install extra seats to cope with the demand from fans that wanted to come and say farewell.
There must be no better ways to end one’s playing career than to go out, take the fight to the opposition, last the full 80 minutes and then look up towards Galway Bay and see, illuminated in digital blue, a 47-10 scoreline beaming back at you.
Connacht’s players would have possibly, in their wildest scenarios, came up with a situation where they would be far enough ahead at the end of the game for Muldoon to either get a simple try or kick a conversion. The try was denied him, not for the lack of trying according to Jack Carty, but when Caolán Blade sliced Leinster apart, Craig Ronaldson gave his captain the nod – ‘You’re kicking this, Mul!’
The home fans loved it and, despite the best efforts of Cian Healy’s early charge, the conversion sailed over the bar and into the Galway night.
Muldoon would have enjoyed the immensely and enjoyed the curses and calls coming from irate Dublin voices as he hauled himself back beyond halfway.
Leinster humbled and Connacht on top. The best way to sign off.
There were speeches and interviews to be done, and eight other departing players to make presentations to. Pictures to pose for and hands to shake – people to hug – on that final walk to the dressing room.
Muldoon did not show for a final, final, final press conference but no-one begrudged him of it. He’ll have plenty of them at Bristol, as Pat Lam’s forwards coach, next season and beyond.
It was left to Carty to tell a ‘Mul’ story that sums up just what he means to this province and its people. The young outhalf from Roscommon was 17 and had just finished playing for Connacht’s ‘A’ team, back in 2010, when the Connacht legend greeted him with a big, brawny arm around the shoulder and some advice to ‘keep hammering away’.
Muldoon may not realise it but those pictures he posed for today, the memories of that conversion and the reception a Galway hero got from an entire province as he left the field will stay with young fans for years, just like those words did for Carty.
The legend is gone, but he will be back.
