CIAN HEALY left fans emotional wrecks as he fought back tears during the national anthems before Ireland’s crunch clash against France.
The Leinster titan was playing his final international match at the Aviva Stadium, as were Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony.
And while the latter two kept their composure as Cian Ducrot sang Amhran na bhFiann and Ireland‘s Call, Healy wore his heart on his sleeve.
As the cameras passed him towards the end of Amhran na bhFiann, the 37-year-old could be seen visibly welling up.
And when the song ended, he used his tracksuit top to wipe the tears away.
Upon seeing the Ireland prop being overcome with emotion, the same happened to fans watching from home.
One said: “cian healy’s single tear singing amhrán na bhfiann… i’ll cry on your behalf king :(“
A second posted: “noo that visable tear drop for cian healy at the end of the anthem”
A third commented: “Seening someone like cian healy with tears rolling down his face screaming out the national anthem is something else”
A fourth said: “Oh my heart – I’m not sure I was ready for Cian Healy’s tears”
A sixth said: “Ah jeez Cian Healy with the tear in his eye …that’s set me off”
And a seventh posted: “Cian Healy’s last national anthem in Dublin…. what a hero!”
As well as calling time on their international careers, Healy and O’Mahony will both retire from club rugby at the end of the club season.
Murray, meanwhile, will continue his career abroad.
Church is the record appearance holder with both Ireland — 134 and counting — and Leinster, clocking up 287 games to date.
The 37-year-old appeared on the scene as a young wrecking ball just as Michael Cheika was transforming Leinster from flashy failures to serial winners.
And he has been there ever since.
But not everyone thought the 19-year-old loosehead prop that broke into the team in 2007 would be around for long, let alone another 17 years.
And Healy, who won the first of his four Heineken Cup trophies in 2009 with current Blues head coach Leo Cullen as his captain, admitted: “I was a headbanger, I was wild, I loved it.
“Start rugby, start getting paid, start going into town, having good craic.
“You are still training well, you are still playing well, you don’t see a fault with it. I couldn’t tell when exactly I toned down.”
Asked to pinpoint it though, he reckons the neck injury he suffered a decade ago that almost ended his career — he had signed the papers to retire — changed his outlook.
In July 2015, the Dubliner underwent surgery on a disc in his neck but sustained nerve damage in the process.
And Healy said: “It could be somewhere in line with the neck thing.
“I ended up just under 130kg, not shocking weight, but I had to go on a weight-loss journey and that probably tidied me up a little bit and I got my act together.
“And then, I don’t know, just the natural progression of settling down a bit and figuring out there is a bit more to it.”
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