The first came 75 years ago, when it was only a five nations tournament and the crowd swarmed onto the field in Belfast to acclaim Jackie Kyle and team after they had beaten Wales 6-3 to clinch the title.

If Ireland can beat England in Dublin tomorrow on the afternoon after St Patrick’s Day, it may well herald the start of a very special Irish sporting year.

A century ago it was all very different.

England won the Grand Slam and Ireland's only win came against Wales by five points to four as they finished joint bottom of the table.

"Most of us sincerely hope that this victory may be the turning point in our fortunes, and that not alone on the football field but in other matters," the Irish Times said.

On St Patrick's Day 100 years ago, Dublin staged a World Championship boxing contest.

Mike Mc Tigue, originally from Kilnamona in County Clare, challenged Senegalese-born champion Amadou Mbarick Fall, better known as “Battling Siki" for the world light heavyweight title.

"All the leading lights in the fistic world were present," reports said of the fight at La Scala theatre in the city.

Unfortunately, observers were forced to conclude that the contest was something of a disappointment.

It ran to 20 rounds, before McTigue received a points verdict.

"McTigue won not for what he did, but for what he did not allow Siki to do," conceded the Freeman’s Journal, a nationalist newspaper published in Dublin.

That the fight should have taken place at a time when Ireland was in civil strife was emblematic of how important sport was to the new Ireland.

Sport was seen as a way of promoting Irish culture and the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) had been founded in 1884.

In the early 1920s, the Dáil Éireann, lower chamber of the Irish Parliament, voted financial support for an ambitious multi sport event to be known as the "Tailteann Games".  

These were in fact a revival of ancient Tailteann Games which Irish writer Thomas Nally suggested had even provided  inspiration for the Ancient Olympics in Greece.

"The Hellenic Games may indeed be traced almost directly to the great national celebrations of Tailteann, not only as their source of origin  but as their models for development," Nally wrote.

Irish Postmaster General James Joseph Walsh, always known as "JJ ", was appointed Games director with headquarters at the Minerva Hotel in Dublin.

"Prominent men of all political views are working hard to ensure the success of this great Irish athletic event," Walsh declared.

He visited Paris to invite representatives of Irish communities across the globe to take part.

In the United States, Murray G Hulbert, President of the Board of Aldermen of New York, was elected to lead a committee to coordinate American participation.

The Games were planned to take place in the summer of 1923.

Business tycoon, tea magnate and sports benefactor Sir Thomas Lipton wrote to organisers offering to provide trophies.

"It is the intention that trophies should take the form of statuettes of uniform and symbolic design," officials decided.

The sporting programme was to include athletics, golf, handball, hurling, swimming and sailing and also motorboating, motorcycling, billiards and chess.

There was also to be a strong cultural element to the celebration with poetry and music planned.

"The programme goes far beyond anything attempted at the Greek Olympics," Walsh claimed.

However, the civil war that had broken out the previous year soon made it impossible for the Games to go ahead as planned in 1923.

The Americans made it known that they would not travel whilst the political situation was so uncertain and the Government grant to the Games was withdrawn.

Ireland's International Olympic Committee (IOC) member John Keane tabled a reluctant proposal to the Organising Committee.

"This General Council of the Tailteann deploring the antagonisms and barriers that have temporarily thrown a shadow across the nation's path, feels that the successful launching of so far reaching a programme needs a better atmosphere than the present time provides, we therefore feel reluctantly obliged to defer the Games to the August 1924," the proposal said.

In fact, the Games were staged in 1924 after the Olympics in Paris.

They were also held in 1928 and 1932 but, although the idea remains fondly remembered, have not taken place in the same format since.

There had been Irish competitors at the Olympics since the first Games of the Modern era, when Dublin born John Pius Boland won a gold medal in tennis for Britain, but was not until Paris 1924 that Ireland competed under its own name.

In the arts competition, Oliver St John Gogarty won a bronze medal in the open literature category, and Jack Butler Yeats was awarded silver in painting.

The first sporting Olympic gold officially won in Irish colours came at Amsterdam 1928.

It went to Pat O’Callaghan in the hammer.

In Los Angeles four years later he was part of what is still arguably Ireland’s finest "hour" at the Olympics.

"I believe Ireland will raise at least one flag in athletics and if we succeed in doing this, we will do better than most countries," Olympic Council of Ireland President Eoin Duffy had predicted.

O’Callaghan came through in the final round of the hammer with 53.92 metres to make sure of his second gold medal.

In what Irish sports reporters dubbed the "Golden Hour", Bob Tisdall became their first  Olympic champion on track when he won the 400 metres hurdles in 51.8sec.

"Having won this race, I’ve realised one of my life’s ambitions," Tisdall told newsreel cameras.

"I said before I came here that it would the last race I’d run because I wanted to play football now I am not so sure."

A few days later, Tisdall also competed in the decathlon and finished eighth.

It was to be 24 years before another Irishman won Olympic gold. Ronnie Delany, took 1500m gold at the 1956 Melbourne Games.

His victory was witnessed by fellow Irishman Lord Killanin, IOC President from 1972 to 1980.

When the World Athletics Championships were launched in Helsinki 40 years ago, Irish athletics enjoyed another memorable moment.

Better known as the "Chairman of the Boards" for his dominance of the indoor circuit, Eamonn Coghlan produced a sensational kick finish to win the 5,000m in 13min 28.5sec for his only major outdoor title.

Sonia O’Sullivan became the first woman to win gold at the same distance in Gothenburg 12 years later.

The following year at the Atlanta Olympics, swimmer Michelle Smith won 400m freestyle and both individual medleys, the first woman to win Olympic gold medals competing for Ireland.

Her international career later ended after a suspension from the International Swimming Federation - now rebranded as World Aquatics - for manipulation of an anti-doping sample, which she denied.

It might come as a surprise that Ireland have only won two Olympic gold medals in boxing.

Michael Carruth upset Juan Hernandez Sierra of Cuba to win welterweight at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

When women’s boxing was introduced to the Olympics at London 2012, Katie Taylor justified her status as hot favourite and duly won lightweight gold.

Her elimination before the final at Rio 2016 shocked the boxing world but her professional career later cemented her position as one of the all time greats.

Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan's combination in the lightweight double sculls brought them gold in Tokyo but elsewhere Ireland's team sports have told a story of gallant struggle.

In 1990, Ireland qualified for the FIFA Men’s World Cup finals for the first time and reached the quarter-finals after a dramatic shootout against Romania when goalkeeper Patrick Bonner saved from Daniel Timofte.

The winning penalty was then converted by veteran defender David O’Leary who had only come on as an extra time substitute.

"The nation holds its breath," RTÉ Commentator George Hamilton shouted as O’Leary converted the penalty.

Ireland's English-born manager Jack Charlton admitted his surprise at the unlikely hero.

"I couldn’t believe it when David O’Leary went to take the penalty, " Charlton told RTÉ television.

In the quarter-final, Ireland lost to hosts Italy, the only goal scored by Toto Schillaci.

Ireland’s women’s hockey team also experienced  penalty shoot out drama at the 2018 World Cup in London.

In their case, it happened against India in the quarter-final and in the semi-final against Spain, when goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran produced a vital save before Gillian Pinder scored to clinch a place in the final.

Then the dream ended with a 6-0 defeat at the hands of The Netherlands. 

So now the focus passes to the number one ranked rugby team in the world.

Since the World Cup was first staged in 1987, Ireland have never been beyond the  quarter-finals but consider their record in the last 12 months.

Successive test wins in New Zealand were followed by victories over South Africa, Fiji and Australia in the Autumn Internationals.

They set the tone for their Six Nations campaign with a blistering 27 first half points against Wales in Cardiff to set up a 34-10 win.

In Dublin, their 32-19 defeat of France was hailed one of the greatest matches of the modern era, not least for the remarkable gymnastics James Lowe displayed to score his try.

They also won in Italy and then last weekend against Scotland at Murrayfield.

How the team copes with injuries on Saturday will prove instructive, as they will surely face similar challenges in the World Cup this autumn.

They should at least be inspired by the words of the Irish rugby anthem.

"Ireland Ireland, together standing tall, shoulder to shoulder, we’ll answer Ireland’s call."