Baby Sadie inherits O'Driscoll speed

Brian O’Driscoll is famous for his speed on the rugby pitch, and his daughter Sadie showed herself to be no slouch when she was born yesterday almost a week before she was due, following a labour that lasted less than three hours.

O’Driscoll’s wife, actor Amy Huberman, was on the red carpet at the Irish Film and Television Awards in Dublin on Saturday night, where she was up for a gong for her role in TV comedy Threesome. While she came away empty-handed, she had her hands full less than 12 hours later, having given birth to the couple’s first child.

O’Driscoll was gearing up for the crucial Six Nations match against England yesterday morning when he got the call that his presence was required at the National Maternity Hospital on Holles Street.

He left the Irish team’s training camp shortly before 8am to be present at the birth. For a time his absence from the game looked inevitable, but by midday he had rejoined the Irish squad and was able to pull on the green jersey, for the 122nd time, by 3pm.

A spokesman for the couple said rumours that Huberman had gone into labour at the Iftas were unfounded: after the awards she went for dinner with her mother.

“Sadie came a few days early and both mother and baby are happy out and safe and sound,” their spokeswoman said.

Within minutes of the birth being confirmed, the Twitterati were out in force, falling over themselves to congratulate the couple. Dawn O’Porter, in town to see husband Chris O’Dowd take home an Ifta for Moone Boy, said she was “so proud happy for our friend @amyhuberman who got so excited during the Iftas she decided to pop out a baby”.