SIMPLY AN astonishing day in the history of Irish rugby in what continues to be a dream season. As expected, Paul O’Connell was yesterday unveiled as the eighth post-war Irish captain of the Lions, and the 11th of 27 Lions tour skippers overall, but furthermore, he will lead a 37-man squad containing an unprecedented 14 Irishmen.

In equalling the record of one club, Leicester, Munster fans will no doubt quickly have deduced that their contingent compares more than favourably to the Tigers’ haul of four years ago in Clive Woodward’s 45-man squad, and yesterday their province equalled England’s tally of eight.

Included amongst their numbers is the 21-year-old Keith Earls, which crowns something of a stunning rookie season as, effectively, the tour’s bolter, and Alan Quinlan – not so much a bolter as a thunderbolt. Fittingly therefore, they and the rest of them will be led by their talisman O’Connell, the first Limerick man to captain the Lions.

It is both the greatest individual honour and toughest challenge ever bestowed upon the man of whom it has been claimed that Superman wears his pyjamas or, even better, that O’Connell doesn’t do push-ups, he pushes the world down.

Yet, with an Irish captain and nearly a 40 per cent representation, there’ll be plenty of flak flying O’Connell’s and his compatriots’ way if the tour goes belly-up against the host nation and World Cup champions.

O’Connell’s appointment makes for an especially memorable day in his alma mater, Ardscoil Rís, and at Young Munster, whose sole previous Lion was Tom Clifford (given work commitments denied Peter Clohessy his opportunity).

The Limerick club will share delight at Earls’ selection with his first club, Thomond. O’Connell yesterday recalled how he made his debut for Young Munster in a team captained by Keith Earls’ father, Ger.

Recalling when O’Connell first broke into the Munster team in the 2001-02 season, his then provincial captain and fellow lock Mick Galwey yesterday described the young pretender as “like a new baby giraffe, a big, awkward, leggy player who always seemed to be falling down, but like any good animal he always got up.

“Once he broke into the team he had everything you’d want in a Munster player; that bit of passion,” added Galwey. “He came from Young Munster with a bit of a reputation, he wanted to make his mark and was a bit from the bold old school of rugby. But once he settled into the team it was always clear that he was a phenomenal athlete.”

Having dutifully spoken of his thrill at such “a massive honour” bestowed upon him, O’Connell was his usual straight-talking self, and revealed he had initially ignored McGeechan’s phone calls a week ago, thinking the English number was a salesman who had been trying to sell him shares.

Even when relenting and returning the call last Monday week at 9am, O’Connell was wary that it might be Munster teammates up to familiar tricks.

“Brian Carney and Frankie Sheahan are always doing prank calls. But once I was sure of the accent we had a brief chat and he just came straight out and asked me to be captain. I said I’d be delighted to do it. It was as simple as that.”

He told his family, “and I had to ask my coach (Tony McGahan) for a day off to come over here, but that was about it. My mother found it hard during the week as people were asking and she had to lie to people, so she was giving out.”

He maintained that “I don’t think it’s a day that I ever aspired to, as such. I kind of came to rugby late and kept progressing and had short-term goals more than anything else”, adding that after Ireland’s World Cup and his injury last year “I definitely didn’t think it would happen”.

He vowed to bring to the party the same captaincy style as ever. “I presume I’m picked for who I am and not for who I should be in the future, so I’ve just got to go out there and be myself and captain the team as I’ve captained teams in the past and play in teams as I’ve done in the past.”

The task wasn’t daunting, he said, so much as tough “and a fabulous challenge.” An avid rugby historian, he takes Willie John McBride’s 1974 tourists and the squad led by Martin Johnson in 1997 as benchmarks and may well seek to sound them out for one or two “gems” of advice.

Ian McGeechan described his captain as “a strong character who has a huge amount of respect, which I think is very important” as well as suggesting the secondrow was a better place to lead the side.

Out of respect for Brian O’Driscoll, McGeechan phoned the Irish captain, who then phoned O’Connell.

“I played under Brian when he’s been captain and I’ve also spoken or done things similar to him when I was captain at Munster, and he’s always encouraged that and I’ll do the same with him.

“He said he was a small bit disappointed, but delighted for me as well. It was just a decent conversation, what you’d expect from a guy like Brian; a top-class guy.”

Describing himself as a proud Limerick man, O’Connell spoke of the “great history of rugby there”.

He revealed Earls “visited my house on Sunday as I helped him fill out the forms. His father and mother will be delighted, he comes from a great city.

“Everybody knows Quinny’s family, they’ll be thrilled. He’s had so many close calls with Ireland down the years and been unlucky with injuries and stuff. He’s a massively passionate guy and is absolutely made for the Lions in terms of his on-the-pitch but his off the pitch stuff as well. A great character, so I’m delighted for him.”

THE 37-MAN TOURING SQUAD

Full-back
Lee Byrne (Wales), Rob Kearney (Ireland)

Wing
Shane Williams (Wales), Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Ugo Monye (England), Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland), Tommy Bowe (Ireland)

Centre
Tom Shanklin (Wales), Jamie Roberts (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Keith Earls (Ireland), Riki Flutey (England)

Outhalf
Ronan O'Gara (Ireland), Stephen Jones (Wales)

Scrumhalf
Mike Phillips (Wales), Harry Ellis (England), Tomás O'Leary (Ireland)

Number eight
Jamie Heaslip (Ireland), Andy Powell (Wales)

Flanker
David Wallace (Ireland), Stephen Ferris (Ireland), Alan Quinlan (Ireland), Joe Worsley (England), Martyn Williams (Wales)

Lock
Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland, capt), Donncha O'Callaghan (Ireland), Simon Shaw (England), Nathan Hines (Scotland)

Prop
Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Andrew Sheridan (England), Phil Vickery (England), Euan Murray (Scotland)

Hooker
Jerry Flannery(Ireland), Lee Mears (England), Matthew Rees (Wales)

Tour itinerary
(all kick-off times Irish)

Saturday, May 30th:Highveld XV v Lions, Royal Bafokeng (2pm)
Wednesday, June 3rd:Golden Lions v Lions, Ellis Park (6.10pm)
Saturday, June 6th:Cheetahs v Lions, Vodacom Park (2pm)
Wednesday, June 10th: Sharks v Lions, ABSA Park (6.10pm)
Saturday, June 13th:Western Province v Lions, Newlands (2pm)
Tuesday, June 16th:Coastal XV v Lions, Nelson Mandela stadium (2pm)
Saturday, June 20th: First Test– South Africa v Lions, ABSA Park (2pm)
Tuesday, June 23rd:Emerging Springboks v Lions, Newlands (6.10pm)
Saturday, June 27th: Second Test– South Africa v Lions, Loftus Versfeld (2pm)
Saturday, July 4th: Third Test– South Africa v Lions, Ellis Park (2pm).