BOULDER — Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub just off the Pearl Street Mall is pretty authentic for an establishment 4,400 miles from Dublin. It even has an impressive engraved plaque on a wall certifying that it has been granted the James Joyce Pub Award for being “an authentic Dublin pub.”

It does have nachos on the menu, though.

“I don’t know what a nacho is,” Ned Fitzgerald said Saturday with a straight face while watching a telecast of the Rapids game at Seattle — with grandson Shane O’Neill playing center back.

Fitzgerald, who lives in Ireland, watches every Rapids game online back home. He has been here the past five weeks to visit family and see Shane play in person.

He watches intently and doesn’t like to be disturbed, but he did notice a plate of nachos being delivered to a nearby table.

“Not my cup of tea,” he said, wrinkling his nose with a glint in his eye.

Conor O’Neill’s is owned by Shane’s father, Colm. Fitzgerald watched the Rapids’ 4-1 loss with one of Shane’s brothers, Darragh, an ambidextrous punter for the Colorado Buffs.

Fitzgerald won’t admit to being 78, preferring to say he’ll be 100 in 22 years. He lives in Cahirciveen, a town of 1,300 on Ireland’s southwest coast in County Kerry.

“It’s a really small town, real country living,” said Christine O’Neill, Shane’s mom and Ned’s daughter. “It’s gorgeous. Oh, my God, it’s beautiful.”

Most Rapids games start at 7 p.m. Denver time, which is 2 a.m. in Ireland. Fitzgerald walks 200-300 yards in the middle of the night from his house to a house where Christine’s sister, Cathy, lives to watch the game on a computer there. He doesn’t own a computer and wouldn’t know how to use one.

One morning last summer while visiting family, Christine woke up just in time to see her father heading back home after watching a game that ended at 6 a.m.

“I’m like, ‘Daddy, I can’t keep this up because you were in bed all day after watching the game, and I have to get up in the morning,’ ” Christine said. “He drives the cousins crazy, the nieces and nephews, because he doesn’t know how to put on a computer, so he gets them up. It could be a 2 o’clock start, and he says, ‘Killian, you better be up here at 2 o’clock in the morning to put on that game.’

“And he’s feeble, he’s nearly 80, and he’s got cancer, which he’s dealing with. He’s been a trouper.”

“Every day is a blessing”

Fitzgerald has pain in his back from multiple myeloma, a cancer that is incurable. He has had it for quite a while, but it has flared up recently. He’s undergoing chemotherapy but was determined to come to America and see Shane play this year, as he did last year.

“He’s actually done very well, considering how long he’s had it and he’s still alive,” Christine said. “Every day is a blessing. This is huge, because we don’t know if he’ll ever be able to come back again. It was a big ordeal for him to come this time.”

Always quick with the quip, Fitzgerald said he doesn’t do much besides eat and drink when he’s home.

“I’m coming to the end of my tether. My health isn’t great. What I have is not curable, but it’s OK.”

Fitzgerald was a Gaelic football player in his day. Gaelic football is Ireland’s national sport, and the O’Neill kids played it growing up when they made summer trips to Ireland. That’s the reason Darragh can punt with either leg. Naturally right-footed, he has punted with his left nine times in his CU career.

“I was a Gaelic football player. I don’t know how good I was,” Fitzgerald said. “I’ll let somebody else decide that.”

As a former sportsman, Fitzgerald knows what he likes in a professional, and he likes what he sees in Shane, who is 20 years old.

“What I like about him, he’s a team player,” Fitzgerald said. “I admire that about him. He knows you’re only as good as your last game. He’s very keen, and you’re only going to get out of it what you put into it. He sacrificed college for it. Hopefully he’ll only improve.”

Fitzgerald isn’t the type to yell and scream watching a game.

“No, no, no, I don’t do that,” he said. “I leave that to the women.”

Grandfather approves

Saturday’s game was tough to watch if you were a Rapids fan. The Rapids have never won in Seattle, and they barely put up a fight. It wasn’t Shane’s fault, though.

“Shane’s doing his bit,” Fitzgerald said at halftime. “Shane’s doing fine. There’s a lot of pressure on the defense. We’re not doing well at midfield.”

Fitzgerald will return to Ireland on Tuesday, wishing he could stay one more week so he could see Robbie Keane — the all-time leading scorer for the Irish national team — visit Colorado on Saturday with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Fitzgerald, meanwhile, will be watching at Cathy’s house in Cahirciveen, proud of Shane and his five siblings.

“He’s a fine young fellow,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re fine young kids.”

John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/johnmeyer