Inside Track: Katie is a rose from the garden of Ireland

It wasn’t so much Katie Taylor claiming yet another of boxing’s World titles, more the occasion. Her fight with France’s Flora Pili marked her final appearance in the ring.

Had it only been an exhibition, the many thousands who packed the country’s premier stadium would still want to have been there.

Even those conflicted by women boxing would have to agree: Here is the country’s greatest sportswoman – maybe sportsperson – of all time.

A few years after winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics, Taylor turned professional. It was a career move that brought her sport’s highest peak.

Croke Park has never seen anything like Saturday night. When Mohamad Ali, arguably the greatest-ever World heavyweight champion, fought Al ‘Blue’ Lewis there back in the early 1970s, he was watched by an estimated 20,000.

On Saturday night there were over four times that present – the place couldn’t have held any more.

They cheered to the echo, held thousands of mobiles in the air to record the event as best they could, and with fireworks going off all over the place and powerful lights shining, the occasion was different than anything Jones’ Road ever witnessed before.

The star attraction didn’t let her supporters down. The television commentators, better able to judge a fight than the vast majority of us looking in, gave the early rounds to Taylor, and all others after she’d been shaded for one by the brave French fighter.

The result didn’t have to be declared – the smiles on the faces of Taylor’s corner, the promoter Eddie Hearn, and just about everyone else crowded into the ring said it all: Our Katie had bowed out with all the World super-lightweight titles there are in her safe-keeping.

A thought: When Katie Taylor made a surprise visit to Dundalk CBS a number of years back, greeting Amy Broadhurst who had just won a national amateur title, those looking on couldn’t have envisaged their guest becoming such a star.

The friendship between the two boxers flourished after that, with Taylor inviting the Dundalk girl to America to help with her preparations for one of her World title fights against her great rival, Amanda Serrano. Broadhurst acted as a sparring partner.

Katie Taylor won’t be in action next year, but the Wiclow footballers will. As Tailteann Cup winners they’ll be entitled to a place in the All-Ireland championship. Before then there’ll be National League outings as well a place in the Leinster championship.

Back to last May. The vast majority of the 83,000 at headquarters on the 11th were shouting from either Louth and Mayo, the respective followings hoping to see their team advance to the All-Ireland final.

But there was no shortage of support for the Garden County, competing with Down in the programme’s opener, the Tailteann final.

They would have had nothing to get excited about in the opening half, or again immediately after the interval, when Down stretched their lead to 13 points. It could only have been gloomy.

But after that there was good reason for them to clear their throats. Staging one of the year’s great comebacks, Wicklow did enough to leave their opponent’s supporters slack-jawed, piling on the scores to secure a narrow but thoroughly deserved win.

Wicklow is one of two counties never to have won a provincial title. (Name the other. Answer at the end of this piece). Hopes were high that Mick O’Dwyer could work the oracle when he was appointed manager a number of years back.

It didn’t work out the Waterville man, who had masterminded several All-Ireland wins for his native Kerry, and, on moving away from home for the first time, nearly did the trick with Kildare, in 1998.

Oisín McConville has been in O’Dwyer’s role for the past five years, and is set to continue. The Armagh man, along with his team, will be buoyed by this year’s results – another of which saw then narrowly beaten by Dublin in the championship.

(Fermanagh is the only other county yet to win a provincial title.)