Cool and composed Gibney pulls another rabbit out of the hat with stirring Irish National victory

As Tom Gibney emerged from an umpteenth embrace, with lipstick smudged on his cheek, he turned around and joked: "This feels like my wedding!"

I wasn't at Gibney's big day, and hopefully wife Heidi isn't reading, but it would have needed to be one hell of a hooley to match the excitement and emotion of Easter Monday 2024 in front of a surprisingly big crowd of 16,758. 

This wasn't anything like Lion Na Bearnai, Gibney's previous winner of the Irish Grand National, a dozen years ago. He was 33-1 and winning was a nice surprise. Intense Raffles was 13-2 second favourite and had been talked about as a potential winner of the BoyleSports-sponsored highlight for months. Racing TV even sent cameras to his Capranny stable for a feature in the lead-up to the race. There was expectation, and with expectation comes intense pressure.