“Finally”.

Only one word but probably one of the best opening paragraphs in sports journalism. It was in the Chicago Tribune and it applied to the Chicago Cubs defeating the Cleveland Indians 4-3 on November 2nd, 2016, to win baseball’s World Series for the first time since 1908.

Merely three days later, it could just as easily have applied to Ireland beating New Zealand for the first time ever, after losing 27 and drawing one of the previous 28 meetings dating back to the first in 1905.

Even on mature recollection, it truly was a stand-out, history-breaking, rival-making result to complete a momentous, seismic week. For all the glory of the 2009 Grand Slam, and the Six Nations titles of 2014 and 2015, finally beating the All Blacks for the first time removed something of a stigma from Irish rugby. Nine years on and five wins apiece, that 40-29 win on November 5th, 2016, is largely why the two sides are back here in Chicago again.

Many had tried – Drico, Paulie, Rog et al – but none had previously succeeded. Few could have appreciated the scale of the history more than Rob Kearney. He had been on a losing Irish side against New Zealand eight times, including a couple of painful near misses in Christchurch in 2012 and the Aviva Stadium in 2013.

“Personally, I was under an awful lot of pressure just before Chicago,” he recalled. “My body was in a bad way. It was breaking down an awful lot. And there were spikes out for my head.

“Listen, there might have been reasons for it. My form wasn’t there.