Andy Farrell was pretty impressed with the performance of his 23-man squad on Sunday who shut out Italy. However the Ireland coach sounded especially impressed at the performance of eight-year-old Stevie Mulrooney who gave a brilliant rendition of 'Ireland's Call' to inspire the players pre game.
Mulrooney performed the national anthem on The Late Late Toy Show back in November and was surprised by Peter O'Mahony and Bundee Aki on stage. After meeting the team during the captain's run last week, he took centre stage to perform in front of a packed out Aviva Stadium.
Speaking post-game Farrell was full of praise for the Kilkenny native.
From the Toy Show to the Aviva, young Stevie Mulrooney is on the up ☘️pic.twitter.com/0Ai2VpChH4
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 11, 2024
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"Oh wow. I tell you, I was actually saying before the game, I was just watching him the whole time," said Farrell, whose side won 36-0.
"I didn't know whether he was standing with his mother or not but when I realised the other lady (Dalton) was not his mother and was singing the national anthem for the Italians... his confidence was amazing and I actually thought 'I wish our lads are going to be like that'.
"He's got his shoulders back, he was ready.
"He was waving to the crowd, stood there on his own. I thought: 'this kid's got it all'.
"He was amazing. He nailed it, didn't he? It was a great start."
'I actually thought, I wish our lads are going to be like this' 💪
Andy Farrell was very impressed Stevie Mulrooney's performance of Ireland's Call 🏉🎤#BBCRugby pic.twitter.com/vcoxtFtiJv— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) February 11, 2024
Mulrooney appeared on Monday's Morning Ireland with his dad Seamus to talk about his performance. During the interview he spoke of how it was Ireland's Josh van der Flier who called him to perform the national anthem before Ireland's first home game in the 2024 Six Nations.
Also, in the interview Seamus Mulrooney told listeners of when he asked his son why Irish rugby players were ringing he replied "Well, either to sing or to replace Keith Earls on the wing!"
The interview concluded with Mulrooney giving another fantastic performance singing Happy Birthday to his mother in Polish as it was her 41st birthday. You can listen to the interview below.
