One of the most Irish stories of the Olympics broke in recent days, with gold medallists Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy accepting a lift home to Cork from a stranger on their flight home from Paris.
The Skibbereen rowers took a historic second successive gold medal in the lightweight double sculls last week, with O'Donovan becoming the first Irish athlete ever to win medals in three successive Olympic games.
However, there was no pretension or ego about their arrival back to Dublin Airport on Tuesday. The Cork duo were captured by the Dublin Airport social media team heading for the Aircoach back to the Rebel County before a stranger offered to drive them back down to the southwest.
The man behind the lift home appeared on RTÉ Radio One this afternoon and recounted the story of how the unexpected superstar guests ended up in his car.
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Olympics: Kieran Duggan reveals how Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy ended up in his car
When Limerick man Kieran Duggan boarded his flight from Paris, he could scarcely have believed that two Irish heroes of the Olympics would be on his flight.
It was when he got chatting to gold medallist Fintan McCarthy that he realised he would end up playing a crucial role in their journey home.
He told RTÉ News at One this afternoon of his disbelief when he learned that McCarthy and his partner Paul O'Donovan, as well as fellow Team Ireland rower Natalie Long, were planning on getting the Aircoach back to Cork.
When I got on the plane, I was actually on row six, across the aisle from Fintan. He was on the outside seat and I was just across in the middle seat. When we were sitting down, we all congratulated him and said well done. That was it until we landed and stopped in Dublin Airport.
I was hugely surprised [when they revealed they were getting the bus]. There was a group of us, we were standing up to depart the plane. It was mentioned to Fintan, 'How are you getting to Cork? Are you transferring to a flight?'
He said, 'No, we're going to get the Aircoach if it's not fully booked.'
It was then that one of Duggan's friends stepped in with an intriguing offer on his behalf.
We were all dumbfounded, the five of us. One of the guys just suggested, he said, 'Kieran has room in the car,' and I said, 'Yeah, I could fit three or four of ye in if you want to jump in.'
What was more surprising was his reaction, he said, 'Yeah, I might take you up on that!'
Initially, Duggan was unsure whether McCarthy was serious on taking him up on the offer.
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The Limerick man - now based in Mallow - generously waited behind the rest of his party to try and catch McCarthy again and reaffirm his offer of a seat in the car back to Cork.
When we got to the baggage hall, I couldn't see any of the guys, they weren't in there.
At that point, we walked out through arrivals and the four guys were heading on. I just said to them, 'I should stay on, Fintan sounded pretty genuine.'
I waited for nearly 20 minutes...there was a woman standing outside arrivals filming on her phone. I went over and said, 'Do you mind me asking have the rowers gone through yet?' She said no - I think she was with Dublin Airport.
They came out and there was lots of cheering. When that died down, I caught Fintan's eye and went over. I said, 'Do you still need that lift or how are ye fixed?' He said, 'No that'd be great - how many can you fit?'
We headed off to the short term car park and that was it.
It's a lovely story, showing how down to Earth the Olympics heroes are even after such spectacular triumphs in Paris.
Even more refreshing was Duggan's confirmation that O'Donovan, McCarthy, and Long not only chatted away for the whole drive home, but also offered to pay for the petrol costs of the journey.
It was definitely a 'pinch yourself' moment as we were leaving the car park.
I was half expecting the three of them to fall asleep but they didn't, they were awake the whole way. It was very relaxed and chilled, the conversation was easy. It was nice, it was a privilege to be honest to have that amount of time by myself with the three of them.
They did [offer to pay for his petrol]. As we were coming into Cork, they said, 'You'll have to pull in now and fill the car up with diesel.' It was a nice offer.
A wonderful story that sums up the wonderful spirit of Team Ireland at these Olympics.
You'd have to imagine Kieran Duggan will be retelling this story for years to come.
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