There is no plan to give the Irish football team an official homecoming reception in Dublin city. This should come as a source of relief to everyone, not least the players themselves. While the open-topped bus following their Italia 90 exit was a giant success, the Phoenix Park receptions after the World Cups in 1994 and 2002 were rather less so.
In the summer of 2002, Joe Duffy warned a crowd (comprised mostly of minors) at Phoenix Park of a deadly pandemic that was sweeping across Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Germany and Spain.
'DDD' ranks up there alongside 'SARS' in the terrifying hall of deadly acronyms. We owe a debt of gratitude to Joe Duffy for alerting the public to its existence.
Though, we might point out that the demographic make-up of the crowd that day wasn't ideal.
You see, 'DDD' - for those who don't remember it - was rare among diseases in that children and old people weren't first in the firing line. Indeed, they were relatively immune. Thus, we feel that the crowd didn't receive JD's warnings with the requisite solemnity and concern.
Rather, those most likely to be afflicted were able-bodied men in the 20s and 30s who played professional football.
Full backs were especially vulnerable.
Damien Duff - the man after whom the viral disease was named - appeared sceptical of its effects.
Naturally, one can watch the whole video of the Ireland 2002 World Cup homecoming on the youtube channel of killianm2.
