 Buy Now The Scrum Half Rugby is a game for all shapes and sizes. Nobody gave certainty to this fact more than Peter Stringer. He debuted for Ireland vs Scotland on the 0000 Six Nations Championship and played 00 times for Ireland and was a constant presence until 0000. His quick pass and rugby intelligence defied all the predictions when he showed that size didn't matter. In this image he is between Malcolm O'kelly and Alan Quinlan during the 0000 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Picture by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Muddy Rugby Nowadays in rugby terms play on pristine pitches with no mud. The mud photograph always said something about the nature of rugby and how it was played in all conditions. This image harks back to a time when it wasn't so and the players had to show resilience to the elements to survive. The picture was taken during the 0000 British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa when they won the series. Picture by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Nicky English Hurler Tipperary's Nicky English is a legend of hurling and is widely regarded as one of their greatest players.. In this picture he runs out on to the pitch in perfect weather in Croke park in an All Ireland semi final against Galway in 0000. He made his debut in the 0000 All Ireland Championship. He went on to play for almost fifteen years for Tipperary. He has won two All Ireland's, five Munster championships and two NHL tiles. Picture by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Kerry and Sam 0000 The Kerry Football team of the late 00's and early 00's dominated the All Ireland Championship. In 0000 they lifted the Sam Maguire Trophy for the fourth year in a row after a hard match against Offaly in Croke Park. They were only denied the five in a row by the Offaly team in 0000. In this picture Kerry captain Jimmy Deenihan lifts the trophy surround by his Kerry team mates. Picture by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Republic of Ireland vs Romania in Italia 0000 This is the Republic of Ireland team which played against Romania in the heady days of the Italia 0000 soccer World Cup. This team brought Ireland into the last eight of the tournament, a position that the Republic of Ireland had never reached before or since.This happened under Jack Charlton the Irish Manager.It was the match of the famous penalty shootout and Packie Bonner's save. It was an amazing day when the Stadio Luigi Ferraris in Genoa was packed with Irish fans to see one of the greatest moments in Irish sporting history. Picture by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Grand Slam Ireland Women 0000 Led by Fiona Coghlan the Ireland Womens rugby team won the Grand Slam in the Six Nations. She was part of a very successful team which also beat New Zealand Black Ferns in 0000 in the World Cup in France. From small playing base compared to some other countries this was an amazing achievement. In a muddy day in Milan in Italy they won 0-0 to secure the championship. Picture by Dan Sheridan + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now The Line Out This picture shows the ability of how to compete in a line out in international rugby in the early 00's before the game was so closely monitored and there was no lifting allowed. This picture was taken in the match between Ireland and France in Lansdowne Road in 0000. Four legends of the Irish game, Willie Duggan, Moss Keane , John O'Driscoll and Fergus Slattery, are taking charge. Picture by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Stephen Roche Tour de France 0000 In the mid 0000's Ireland had two world class cyclists.. Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche. Both had brilliant careers in a sport that Ireland punched way above its' weight In 0000 Stephen Roche won the Giro D'Italia, the Tour de France and the World Road Race Championships.. a feat only once before achieved in professional cycling by Belgian Eddy Merckx in 0000. On the Tour de France the turning point was when he was behind Pedro Delgado by one and a half minutes half way up the final climb into La Plagne but reduced it to just four seconds and collapsed over the line. He overtook that 0 sec in the time trial the next day to take the Yellow Jersey from Delgado. This picture shows him surrounded by journalists on the Champs-Élysées just after he won the race in Paris. Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey joined Roche on the podium. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Connacht PRO00 Champions 0000 Connacht as a rugby province has traditionally been considered the poor cousins of the other Irish teams. But not in the 0000/0000 season with Pam Lam as head coach and John Muldoon as captain. Galvanised as a squad by a trip to Krasnoyarsk in Russia for the Challenge cup they became more united and stronger as the season progressed including a win over Munster in Thomond Park. In the semi finals of the Pro00 they met and beat Glasgow Warriors at the Sportsground and then in the final faced the highly fancied Leinster team. They were brilliant that day and completely outclassed them to win. It was a fitting moment for their captain John Muldoon, who had played for Connacht since the 0000/00 season,to lift the Trophy in Murrayfield. Picture by JAMES CROMBIE + Buy this Print - €000.00 Jack Charlton Lansdowne Road In February 0000 England World Cup winner from 0000 Jack Charlton took charge of the Republic of Ireland soccer team. He transformed the team from being perennial underachievers to Irelands' most successful team . The team qualified for the 0000 European Championships in Germany (beating England in Stuttgart), the 0000 World Cup in Italy (reaching the quarter finals after a memorable penalty shootout against Romania in Genoa) and the 0000 World Cup in the USA (beating Italy in New York). Irish people took Charlton to their hearts and he gave us a sense of pride in the country. Some say the success of the soccer kickstarted the Celtic Tiger. He dictated how the Republic of Ireland team would play by putting opposing teams under pressure with route one soccer and this picture shows him making his feelings very clear to the players from the touchline. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Willie Anderson vs The Haka In 0000 the All Blacks came to Lansdowne Rd to play Ireland. The captain for Ireland was Willie Anderson. The All Blacks performed their traditional Haka. It was a period when the All Blacks under the captaincy of Wayne Shelford had decided to take the Haka more seriously and to understand all the deep meaning of what it represented to New Zealanders and Maori culture. Teams facing it would normally stand respectfully and watch it. Willie Anderson, however, decided to drag his team in an line towards the All Blacks. It was spontaneous and although Willie moved forward shouting at the All Blacks most of the rest of the Irish Team are a little more reticent but had no choice. Ireland were beaten 00-0 Photograph by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 The Munster Haka In November 0000 the New Zealand All Black rugby team came to play Munster. It was a throwback to the legendary game in 0000 when Munster beat the All Blacks 00-0 which had become part of Munster Rugby folklore.In the Munster team there were four New Zealanders Jeremy Manning, Rua Tipoki, Doug Howlett and Lifiemi Mafi. The Munster team thought of performing a Haka in response to the All Blacks Haka. They sought permission to do it from the All Blacks as it's a very important and sensitive issue for New Zealanders. This was given so the four New Zealanders in the Munster team led the Haka. It was an inspired and emotional moment. Munster played brilliantly and were within minutes of repeating the 0000 game until Joe Rokococo scored in the last few minutes to win the game for the All Blacks. Photograph by Billy Stickland + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Ireland vs England Croke Park 0000 On the 00st November 0000 in Croke Park, British soldiers opened fire during a game of Gaelic Football between Dublin and Tipperary and killed 00 people and wounded another 00. This tragedy became a source of resistance towards the British Occupation of Ireland. As the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association, no British sports teams would be allowed to play there. When the Irish Rugby Football Union redeveloped Lansdowne Road into the Aviva Stadium, they had an arrangement with the GAA to allow the rugby team to play in Croke Park. Inevitably the England rugby team were due to play there and in 0000 it happened. Despite worries it turned out to be a celebration of Irish sport as Ireland beat England 00-00. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Munster Heineken Cup Winners 0000 In 0000 the Munster Rugby team, coached by Declan Kidney, finally reached the Holy Grail when they beat Biarritz in Cardiff to win the Heineken Cup for the first time. The day after the match (and subsequent celebrations), as official photographer to Munster Billy Stickland got to take a squad shot. Once the main picture was finished he asked the squad to show a bit of emotion and to celebrate. They were a special team with legends such as Paul O'Connell and Ronan O'Gara. This image was the result and it is very satisfying to have a photograph that conveys something about the camaraderie and spirit of that squad. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Drinking from the Sam Maguire Back in 0000 Donegal won their first All Ireland Football Final when they beat Dublin. Afterwards Inpho photographer Billy Stickland spent a couple of days in Donegal with their captain Anthony Molloy as he brought the Sam Maguire Trophy around Donegal to celebrate. He went with him to a lot of pubs and it became obvious how the centre of attraction was the mythical cup itself. Far away from the excitement of Croke Park this picture shows a different angle on the history of the Sam Maguire trophy and rather than the fans dominating the scene, the actual trophy is centre stage. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Haka Tribute to Anthony Foley vs All Blacks Chicago 0000 Munster assistant coach and former Ireland number 0 Anthony Foley died suddenly just before a match against Racing 00 in October of 0000. The following month Ireland were playing the New Zealand All Blacks in Chicago and the team thought up the idea of challenging the Haka by doing a figure of eight to symbolise the jersey worn by Foley during his career. It was an emotional moment and set the perfect tone for the match. All of the Munster players were at the front of the figure eight. It was an amazing challenge laid down to the All Blacks' Haka. Ireland went on to beat the All Blacks for the first time ever, winning 00-00. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now Over the Fence When an Inpho photographer goes to a race meeting it is always in the back of their mind to take a picture from underneath a fence as the horses jump over. This is not as easy as it may seem and takes planning. Firstly Morgan Tracey had to set up a remote camera between the races to get the right angle and to make sure that the lens and camera were perfect and not going to interfere in any way with the race. The exposure is tricky because of the changing light and the background is vital. The final unknown is if the horse will jump over to give a great shape to the picture. This image had the best possible outcome. Picture by MORGAN TREACY + Buy this Print - €000.00 Downpour in Donnybrook Sometimes weather conditions make a mockery of a sporting occasion. Photographers look on it as an opportunity as it can turn an ordinary match into a strong memory. It is not easy as you are battling the elements trying to keep yourself and your cameras dry. You run the risk of damaging your equipment beyond repair without getting anything special from your efforts. Not so in this case. Inpho photographer Dan Sheridan has been very close to the Ireland Women's rugby team having over the years covered their wins over New Zealand in the World Cup and their Grand Slam success in the 0 Nations. This image adds to the story. Picture by DAN SHERIDAN + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Buy Now The Hurler and the Moon James Crombie had been talking about this picture for years. He had wanted to do a hurler silhouetted by the moon. It looks simple but it was very complicated to get both the hurler and the moon in sync. He had to have a full moon and a clear night. He had to work out the angle and trajectory of the moon in relation to where the hurler stood. It was shot on a strong 000mm telephoto lens to give it the right effect and he had to communicate by mobile phone to get it right. He only had a few minutes to take it. A perfect example of good preparation paying off. Picture by JAMES CROMBIE + Buy this Print - €000.00 Packie Bonner Save Italia 0000 In 0000 the Republic of Ireland, coached by Jack Charlton, made it through to the quarter-finals of the Soccer World Cup in Italy. The stadium in Genoa was packed with Irish fans for this match against Romania. The game came down to a penalty shootout. Inpho photographer Billy Stickland was one of only two photographers who managed to position himself up the touchline at the perfect angle for Packie Bonner's save. Focusing on the keeper and hoping he would not only save it but dive in his direction, it worked perfectly. This has become one of the iconic images of Irish sport from a special day when the whole country watched on. Picture by BILLY STICKLAND + Buy this Print - €000.00 Buy Now Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit Submit 