WITH THE COUNTRY voting in favour of same-sex marriage, the law can no longer prevent Irish lads from eloping with their favourite sporting man-crushes.
Xabi Alonso
The Bayern Munich midfielder is always cool, calm and collected. That’ll come in handy when the bills are flooding through the letterbox and you’re starting to panic. When times get tough, Xabi will be there to comfort you… and pay said bills with his €5 million salary.
Steph Curry
Everyone wants to get with the most popular guy in school, and right now that’s Golden State Warriors point-guard Steph Curry. The 27-year-old is definitely marriage material, although he needs to work on keeping the kids under control.
Miguel Angel Jimenez
He hasn’t got the looks, the physique or age on his side, but the Spanish golfer does have a rake of cigars and wine. A man who spends his time playing golf and on the lash, what’s not to like?
Dan Carter
The All Blacks out-half comes across as one of the most endearing guys in sport. Even when he’s putting Ireland to the sword, it’s difficult not to like him. The fact that he’ll be the world’s highest-paid rugby player next season helps too, but we’re in it for the love, not the money.
Andrea Pirlo
If we start telling you why we love the Italian midfielder you might still be reading this article in a week’s time, so we’ll just let this do the talking instead…
Steve Walsh
It was a sad day when the well-known rugby referee from New Zealand announced his retirement in March. You’d feel safe with a guy who took no shit from 30 rugby players simultaneously. Steve wouldn’t take no for an answer either if the kids refused to turn off the PlayStation.
JJ Watt
The Houston Texans defensive-end would also bring that sense of security. God help any burglar who breaks into the home of JJ Watt. At 6’5″ and nearly 300lbs, he’d also be well able to bring all the shopping in from the car in one go.
Ciaran McDonald
We’ve always been fans of McDonald but the entire country fell in love with the former Mayo forward all over again after he gave a rare interview to Second Captains recently. We reckon the Crossmolina man has got a fair bit of road frontage as well.
Rafael Nadal
The Spanish tennis player is a flawless specimen of a human being, even if his body has started to give up on him lately. Nadal is out injured more often than not these days so you’d spend a lot of time feeding him chicken soup and flat 7-Up. But still… what a man.
Brian O’Driscoll
You didn’t think we’d leave this fella out of a list on man-crushes, did you? Our readers don’t need to be told why the Irish rugby legend is such a catch, but for starters, he’d keep the life savings nice and safe in your local Credit Union. Watch out, Amy Huberman.
