WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : Spotlight : THE ENGLISH LOVE THEIR IRISH

You would have thought Ireland had already won the World Cup by the goings-on in Kilburn, an Irish area of London. More than 1,500 Irish supporters shoe-horned themselves into McGovern’s Pub to watch the big match against Norway late Tuesday on huge TV screens.

Once the draw became official and indicated that Ireland would go into the last 16, the crowd began singing “Dublin’s Fair City,” and cars sporting the Irish tricolor--green, white and orange--raced down Kilburn High Street sounding their horns for hours.

And what of the Englishman, Coach Jack Charlton, who made it possible?

“He’ll be made King Jack of Ireland when he gets back,” promised Noel Loughrey, 25, from County Donegal and now of London.

The London press hailed the Irish draw with Norway and their advance to the second round as if it were a historic British victory.

The Daily Mirror bannered: “Everyone’s a H-EIRE-O” and ran individual color photos of the entire Ireland team above a lead from New York that read: “Jack Charlton’s Irish heroes return to Disney World ready to spray more stardust over the World Cup.”

Not to be outdone, the Sun reported the Ireland-Norway game in a series of headlines that read: HIP HIP HOO-RAY for midfielder Ray Houghton; and “Charlton and his battling supermen take it to the wire.”

With a banner that read “Jack walks tall in the land of the Giants,” the story began: “He appeared on the balcony and it was only a matter of seconds before 50,000 Irishmen spotted the man in the white cap--and roared in admiration and worship.

“They were paying homage to Jack Charlton, but in those few, emotional moments in New York’s (sic) Giants Stadium, they could have been hailing the Pope.”