What Mick Galwey did for two Munster fans outside the Aviva really was special

A legend on and off the pitch.

Munster exited the Champions Cup at the semi-final stage on Saturday when they lost out to a Saracens side who never really looked like losing the game.

Rassie Erasmus said after the game that Saracens were 15-20 points above the standard of Munster, and it’s difficult to find fault with his comments.

Saracens play an oppressive game built upon a defence that slowly constricts, strangles and crushes the opposition’s attacks, leaving them hopelessly attempting lone runners around the rucks, which Saracens will gratefully turn over.

Munster tried, boy did they try. CJ Stander basically played on one leg. Peter O’Mahony left the field with a concussion. Substitute Jean Deysel fractured a rib. Munster threw the kitchen sink at Saracens, but the English heavyweights took each blow on the chin and kept marching forward in an irrepressible wave.

Saracens will now face Clermont in the final, after the French side defeated Leinster in a cracking contest on Sunday.

One thing to be noted from the weekend, was the extraordinary support which turned out for both semi-finals, with over 90,000 tickets being sold between the two games.

Tickets were hard to come by on Saturday at the Aviva Stadium, with social media ablaze with people scouting for tickets to the game.

But this wasn’t a worry to Ciaran O’Toole and his father Seamus from Tipperary, who had secured their tickets in advance and had arranged to collect them in Dublin, prior to the match.

Unfortunately for them, an accident on the M7 meant that the carrier of their tickets was delayed in traffic, which resulted in Ciaran and Seamus being stranded outside the stadium.

The pair waited frantically, right up until kick-off where they sat outside the Aviva and could hear the crowd roaring as referee Romain Poite blew the whistle for the start of the game.

Step forward Mick Galwey.

The provincial legend, along with former Ireland and Munster star David Wallace, was making his way into the stadium around the time of kick-off.

Galwey spotted Ciaran and Seamus looking rather forlorn outside the venue and approached them. Upon hearing their plight, he whipped two tickets for the game from his pocket and presented them to Ciaran and his father.

Speaking to SportsJOE, Ciaran said:

“He handed the tickets to us and went on his merry way.

“Pity about the result but the kindness of Gallimh made it a bit easier bear. Thanks Mick.”

Mick Galwey, take a bow. A legend both on and off the field.

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