TV ViewCarnage. A day of damaged limbs, shattered dreams and acute disappointment.
A sombre mood enveloped one sporting occasion after another on Saturday as the old chestnut about the luck of the Irish proved particularly inappropriate.
The first to disprove the theory was Ireland's rugby full back Geordan Murphy. Surging onto an Eric Miller pass, the Kildare man came to a shuddering halt in a double tackle and in that instant so too did his World Cup aspirations.
Murphy lay writhing in agony as the game continued, the BBC's Nick Mullins and analyst Philip Matthews, a former Ireland captain, concentrating on the ball, but when referee Nigel Whitehouse signalled for a knock-on and with it a break in play, the full realisation of the disaster dawned.
Five slow-motion replays were brought to bear as the commentators tried to fathom what had happened. The third rerun clearly showed the bottom third of Murphy's left leg at an unnatural angle.
The confirmation arrived via a touchline reporter that Murphy had suffered a compound fracture. The cameras panned to Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan in the stand, looking like he'd been slapped with a wet fish.
The incident understandably overshadowed the game; the coverage by both RTÉ and BBC was peppered with adjectives, a verbal joust to accurately convey the extent of Ireland's loss, the fact they won the game becoming largely irrelevant.
RTÉ anchor Tom McGurk tried to introduce a mischievous, upbeat finish to the programme by asking George Hook for his thoughts on what would happen at Lansdowne Road, a reference to the Republic of Ireland's crucial European Championship qualifier against Russia.
Hook, at a loss for words, looked as discomfited as if he'd been asked to parade down O'Connell Street in a thong, the sound of laughter almost audible through the credits.
Bill O'Herlihy was next into the anchor's chair, eschewing any understatement with a death-or-glory billing to the soccer match. John Giles and Denis Irwin provided the analysis: sharp, concise and instructive. But even they had to give best to a Russian buttonholed by Darragh Moloney on his way to the game. The slightly hangdog expression betrayed his pessimism: "No, we haven't a good team - maybe we might manage a draw."
This contrasted sharply with those Irish fans tempted into the vox pop, all of whom predicted a healthy win for the home side. No surprise there then.
George Hamilton was in a great mood, evidenced in his scene-setting when he noted "the puffy clouds in the sky". We could also hear a choo-choo train in the background, though by then George had moved on to other matters.
Hamilton and Jim Beglin have become easy on the ear, pipe-and-slipperish, the former full of unusual trivia and indomitable optimism, the latter forthright in his assessments.
Hamilton demonstrated uncanny prescience when he ventured, "Lee Carsley, a man who has yet to score for Ireland", just minutes before the hapless midfielder ballooned a free-kick into Marian College.
Moloney probably went to retrieve the ball; at least we presumed that's where he was, for when Hamilton said "Darragh Moloney is on the touchline" there was no response.
Damien Duff scored, a Russian defender hit a daisy cutter that Gary Breen deflected into the net with his hand. The match finished 1-1. John Giles was philosophical, so too Denis Irwin. But Kevin Kilbane, who had played superbly, proffered the mixed metaphor: "We knocked ourselves in the teeth." In fairness, we knew what he meant.
It was time to channel-hop to see how Ireland's Noel Fox and Colm Moriarty were doing at Ganton in the Walker Cup. We flicked just in time to see the scores tied at 5-5 and Fox stymied by a gorse bush.
A minute later he was shaking hands, having lost three and two. The cameras then moved to the only remaining game, Moriarty, one-up and lagging an excellent 50-foot putt to a matter of inches. The American responded by holing from 25 feet to square the match and then at the next extricated himself from a bunker at the par three to win that and go from one-down to one-up.
What was it about being Irish on Saturday? On the final hole it was with morbid fascination that we awaited the Irishman's fate as he pushed his second into a greenside trap. Just then the continuity announcer confirmed that they were leaving Ganton for Match of the Day from BBC Northern Ireland with Stephen Watson.
In the end it was a blessed relief.
