O’MAHONY’S SET TO JOIN GREEN ELITE

LIONS legend Fergus Slattery reckons his countryman Peter O’Mahony can join a select Irish few today in Auckland.

O’Mahony (above) has come up on the rails as the latest man in green to have a chance of leading the tourists in their famous red shirts.

Willie John McBride is the most celebrated but Ronnie Dawson, Karl Mullen, Brian O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell are among others from the Emerald Isle to skipper the Lions.

Dublin-born Slattery was a winning Lion in 1974 in South Africa when the former Irish skipper, now 68, played under McBride. And ex-flanker Slattery thinks O’Mahony is cut from the same cloth as Willie John – and will take no prisoners in the First Test at Eden Park.

Slattery said: “He will be in there for the full 80 minutes. He will take them up another step. I was glad he got the captaincy.

“When you had the experience of playing with Willie John he was as sound as a pound.

“It didn’t matter where it was, Ireland, Lions or the Barbarians – what you saw on the outside of the package was what you got.

“The Lions can win the game. The forwards will deliver a sufficient amount of ball to the backs. It is a question of the backs putting the points on the board.”