For Club and Country

It’s not been that long since the last update but plenty has happened. The first trip to Tallaght, international duty for a week, and then Galway last Friday. So where do we stand? City top the League, Ireland sit second in the group. However that hardly tells the story.

The trip to Tallaght was great for a number of reasons. I’d had the car broken into the night before in Inchicore and needed a lift(metaphorically and physically), and the game certainly provided it. The ground and the entire setup feels light years away from grounds such as United Park or Ballybofey. You’d love to bottle it and show people so that they could see what the League of Ireland is like.

You’ve probably read enough about the game at this stage but it truly was a smash and grab raid. First we give away a penalty, then down to ten men. Half time saw the talk turn to how we could hold on and that a point would be a good result. The second half saw the breakthrough for the home side and at that stage it should have been game over. Indeed Rovers had the chances to kill the game off. Whilst one can never discount a City side led by Stephen Kenny, even this looked beyond the realms of their possibilities.

Undoubtedly the introduction of Molloy and Morrow was instrumental. Molloy stopped the flow of the ball through the middle, and Morrow was able to hold the ball up when it went forward. Check out the MNS website www.rte.ie/mns website for all the highlights. The celebrations between supporters and players after the game were special and although I was in the press box, the emotion was obvious. To be the first team to take three points from Tallaght was a particular sweet fact to take from the game.

We were in Croker the following night and then onto Bari. A brief stop to watch the Boat Race in London on the Sunday, but that is another story for another blog. Whilst the Bulgaria game wasn’t anything to write home about, we had a great night before and afterwards. Kev Mullen, Mick McCourt, James O’Toole were out before and after the game. In between amusing anecdotes of taxi driving actors and ultrasounding your alloys we had a cracking night. We ended up in the Hill 16 pub in Gardiner St(scene of many a Dublin SC meeting) and between Rovers fans, singsongs and general craic it was a superb night. So good a night in fact that between the hour changing and me having to pack at 3.30am I managed to sleep in a nearly miss the flight to London.

Bari was a great trip, we ended up in the same hotel as the team(and the Italian Tupperware convention) which was good craic. Some people weren’t particularly enamoured with Bari, but I thought that the old city was a gem and the people were superb. I am lucky enough to “parlo un po d’italiano” and we had great nights with the locals. I’ve been to Italy a number of times and every time I go back I remember once again why I love the country. Great people, great food, great lifestyle. Sitting in the Old Square on the Thursday morning, reading the Gazzetta Dello Sport and drinking a “doppio” as it hit 25C, we remarked how tough a station it was.

Like City, Ireland pounced with a late goal and cue pandemonium in the stands. I remembered landing heavily on my back during part of the celebrations and was rewarded with the appropriate bruises the following day. We certainly deserved the point and indeed could have stolen it at the ended. The goal reminded me of the finish by Pizza in the 95 Cup final as it seemed to hit the net in slow motion. Matt and Richie Q randomly turned up in Bari and we ended up sitting beside them at the game. There was also a random meeting with Alan Kerins the Sligo fan in the middle of it all. Late goals have a particular quality about them and the fans stayed in the stadium for half an hour afterwards celebrating. It reminded me of being in Kashima stadium when Keane equalised against the Germans in 2002.

It was back to business on Friday and I had to be in work(they do make me come in the odd day) so there was no Brandywell for me. The consensus is that Derry were very good in the first half and should have had the game won. Without throwing in clichés about the need for a second goal, the inevitable happened and Galway nabbed an equaliser. Still, with Bohs losing at home to Cork it saw City take over sole possession of the top spot. I’d far rather be there in November than now, but for the moment the view isn’t bad.