Donegal schoolgirl's day to remember as Irish mascot for Six Nations triumph

A young girl from Greencastle had a day she’ll never forget as a mascot for Ireland as they retained the Guinness Six Nations championship.

Eight-year-old Zara McKinley from Carrowhugh - a pupil in second class at St Columb's National School in Moville - won a competition through Aviva Insurance to join the Irish team at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.

Bundee Aki, the New Zealand-born Irish centre, is Zara’s favourite player, although there were plenty more who made an impression on the family over the weekend with their hospitality.

When Linda, Zara’s mother, broke the news to her daughter three weeks ago about the competition win, the clip was shared by Aviva Ireland on social media, before her Irish kit landed. Then on Saturday, the family made their way to Dublin, where they were guests of the IRFU and Aviva for the decider against Scotland.

“When I first got the phonecall from Aviva to say that Zara had won, I thought it was a joke,” Linda tells DonegalLive. “But no, she had won and we filmed her reaction to the news to share with them. I think I was more excited than her to begin with!”

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Linda and her husband Robert were also invited to the match and Aviva Insurance then even arranged for another two seats for Zara’s brother, six-year-old Jamie, and his aunt, Linda’s sister, Louise McDaid.

Landa and Robert had been to the Stade de France to watch Ireland take on France in the 2022 Six Nations. That day, France ran out winners on a scoreline of 30-24, which was Andy Farrell’s side’s last defeat in the competition since falling 23-22 to England at Twickenham the week before last.

However, although the hopes of consecutive Grand Slams were gone, Ireland knew a victory over Scotland would be enough to win the championship and the Aviva was a 51,700 sell-out.

“We were hoping we wouldn’t bring bad luck after Paris two years ago,” Linda adds. “We had a chance to go to the Rugby World Cup in France last year too, although we had to turn down the tickets because we had a wedding - although we did consider missing the wedding!

Zara, front in white boots, joins the Irish team and her fellow mascots for the anthems at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday

“The children play football with Greencastle FC and love watching rugby, but had never been. When Zara got the news she was going to be the mascot was crying with delight and poor Jamie was crying because he wasn’t going to be going, so the IRFU were so helpful in getting us two more tickets, one for Jamie and my sister Louise.

“Before the game, we were taken to pitchside to see the warm-up and the Irish team, as they came off, all gave high-fives and signed autographs to Zara, who was delighted. She got photos too with Peter O’Mahoney, Dan Sheehan and Josh van der Flier. As the crowd built up, Zara was a little nervous and we took our seats and she waited at the tunnel to join the team as they went out onto the pitch for the national anthem and Ireland’s Call.”

Ireland's Josh van der Flier poses for photographs with Zara before the Six Nations match against Scotland on Saturday

O'Mahony, the Irish captain, was the first to emerge. He led the line and took Zara onto the field for the formalities before she joined her family in the West Lower to watch on as Ireland battled out a 17-13 victory to get the party started.

“It was a brilliant experience,” Linda adds. “Everyone really enjoyed their day and Zara enjoyed it so much she didn’t sleep a wink in the car on the way home. We made it back about 11:30pm and then on Sunday, we watched it all back to relive it again. It’s something that we won’t forget for a long time”.

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