So that is it. Ireland are out of the World Cup. This morning I met a group of friends and we went into Waxy’s in Piccadilly circus. We were early enough to get really good seats. The place was hugely hot but no-one really cared.
Anyways we lost on penalties at the end which was a damn shame. Spain got a solid goal in the 8th minute and we weren’t doing great. A lot of good chances were laid to waste. The first penalty we missed was terrible, and to miss on the rebound was horrible. There was such an air of depression in the pub when that happened, it took a few minutes for spirits to revive. When Keane was fouled in the box the entire place exploded. The shouting only got louder seconds later when he put it in. I’m fairly hoarse at the moment and my throat hurts. We looked so much stronger in the golden goal extra time and then came the penalties.
The linesman is a new national hero for Ireland. The cheering when one of Spain’s goals was disallowed for offside was wonderful. They seemd to be playing offside a hell of a lot.
Anyways the atmosphere in the pub was just amazing and is easily the best and only testament to sporting events. The sheer pride of everyone there and the ecstasy and in the end despair was just amazing to be a part of. Roll on 2006.
I meant to post this last night but it kinda sums up a lot of feelings.
Here is an extract from the Johnny Vaughan show at the weekend – for those of you who missed it:
JV: Ardal, you’re a Celtic Fan and a big Ireland fan obviously.
Many congratulations on the late goal against the Germans (cue much cheering among predominantly English audience).
AO: Cheers Jonny, it was a great occasion for us (cue more subdued cheering this time).
JV: So Ardle, could you please answer this burning question – why, given that we English are always delighted to see the Irish team do well, do the Irish fans dislike the English so much?!!’ (cue a inquisitive ‘yeah?’ from the audience).
AO: Well, Jonny I’d say that was more down to the 500 years of repression to which you’ve subjected our people and that fact that you still occupy 6 counties in our country than anything else.”