Luck of the Irish and wisdom of a legend: meeting Morgan

THE old cliche “never meet your heroes” has not come about without reason because often we are left disappointed when our real-life experience does not match the expectations we had built up from afar.

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So, having previously heard that Eoin Morgan, former England World Cup-winning captain, could be a bit testy at times, I was naturally apprehensive when approaching him earlier this week in the commentary box at Boland Park.

I had nothing to worry about. In fact, the interaction was stunningly pleasant with Morgan coming across as humble, engaging and quite funny in fact.

Okay, the former England World Cup-winning captain is not exactly a “hero” of mine, but he was responsible for giving me the best quote of my entire 20-year journalistic career. It was in the bowels of Lord’s in 2019 after the greatest World Cup final ever — if not the best ODI ever - and with Morgan having just become the first “Englishman” to lift the coveted trophy.

Morgan, of course, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and due to the nature of the final, I asked him: “Had the luck of an Irishman taken England over the line?”

Morgan’s unfiltered response was the stuff of legends, and it went viral across the globe within seconds.

“We had Allah with us as well,” Morgan said.

“I spoke to Adil (Rashid) and he said Allah was definitely with us. I said we had the rub of the green.”