Yesterday, alone in my telly room, I jumped in the air and screamed louder than a Spinal Tap amp that goes up to eleven, when Troy Parrott scored his last-gasp winner against Hungary.
Minutes later, I cried along with Troy, as he was interviewed wiping tears from his eyes with his football shirt. This is why football is the beautiful game.
Every fan has a store of such crazy memories, when real life melts away before the magical world of fully-grown adults kicking a ball around a field for ninety minutes.
Half of my top ten magical moments came in my childhood.
- 1970, on our old black-and-white telly. Brazil v Italy, Mexico World Cup final. Pelé strokes the ball into empty space. From off-screen, Carlos Alberto hurtles in and slams a low shot home.
- 1972, on our new colour telly. Leeds v Arsenal, centenary FA Cup final. My dad is fifty, exactly half the age of the FA Cup. Mick Jones crosses for Sniffer Clarke to score with a diving header.
- 1974, Dalymount. Ireland v USSR, Euro qualifier. I’m crushed in the crowd as Don Givens scores a hat-trick for Ireland to surprisingly beat the mighty Soviets.
- 1976, Dalymount. Bohs v Waterford, League of Ireland. We’re down to nine men, but God-of-Goals Turly scores twice as we beat a Waterford side that includes World Cup winner Bobby Charlton.
- 1977, Dalymount. Ireland v League of Ireland, friendly. Us against ourselves. The boisterous shed end divides between fans chanting for Ireland and the League of Ireland. I support the local heroes I watch every week.
The other five brought adult me back to childhood:
- 1984, Dalymount. Bohs v Rangers, UEFA Cup. My part-time heroes beat the pros of Glasgow Rangers, as world war three erupts on the terraces.
- 1990, College Green. Half a million welcome the Boys in Green home from the Italy World Cup. The culmination of the crazy summer that made soccer an Irish obsession.
- 1998, Paris. France v Brazil, World Cup final. Zenedine Zidane heads home a corner, which I photograph from the stands with a ‘camera’. This is a physical object, not an app.
- 2002, City West Hotel. Reunion dinner for the Leeds 1972 FA Cup winners. I return to childhood, pestering middle-aged men to autograph a replica programme.
- 2016, England. Leicester City win the Premier League. In a game now dominated by insane amounts of money, the shock champions started as 5,000-1 outsiders.
I could easily double that list (Radford v Newcastle, Clarke v QPR, Shelly v Drogheda, Turly v Sligo, Kempes v Netherlands, Packie v Romania, Houghton v Italy, Ryan v Shels, Aguero v QPR; Hernandez v Swansea).
But these are my unfiltered, stream-of-consciousness, top ten football memories, so I’ll stick with them until I change them.
And yesterday’s edition of Troy of the Rovers is up there with the best of them. A must-win away game, days after toppling Portugal made it mean anything.
One down after three minutes. A defiant peno, then behind again. A late second leveller, and relentless pressure. The dreaded Irish moral victory looms.
With seconds left, Troy completes his hat-trick. Yes!!!! It’s the best real Irish victory in decades, with the promise of more to come. Olé, Olé-Olé-Olé, Olé, Olé.