Sad there will be no Irish hat tricks

SADNESS seemed to be the main feeling following the World Cup play-offs, with Italy’s failure to qualify the big story. It’s a real shame that the legendary Gianluigi Buffon won’t get to end his career on that stage but I was more disappointed that neither the Republic of Ireland nor Northern Ireland will be involved next summer. I worked for ITV at Euro 2016 and the atmosphere the supporters from both countries generated made those four weeks in France memorable. One story in particular stands out from a flight I took with a couple of hundred fans of Northern Ireland. We were flying from the south of France back to Paris and the singing before we had even taxied to the runway was unreal. I was sitting towards the front of the plane, wearing what I call my ‘train hat’ and trying my best to go unseen — which isn’t easy when you’re 6ft 7in. I’d heard a couple of shouts of ‘Crouchy’ and, before I knew it, my hat had been whipped off my head. There was only one thing for it at that point, so I joined in the revelry, standing in the aisle and singing ‘Will Grigg’s on fire’ with them at 35,000 feet! Safe to say I had never been on a flight like that before but it was brilliant to see them all enjoying themselves so much. They would have brought colour and fun to Russia in 2018. The tournament will be poorer without either nation.