jlpagano.net: my sporting noughty list

As a rule, I HATE New Year list-making, but at the end of a decade, I guess I can bring myself to join ‘em rather than try to beat ‘em.

So running in reverse order, here’s my 5 favourite spectator-sporting memories from the last ten years. Remember I have absolutely no time for boxing, athletics or any type of racing be it on wheels or hooves.

#5 : RYDER CUP 2006

Being a blow-in Paddy you’d think my fondest golfing memory from the past ten years would be one or all of the major victories by Padraig Harrington. Well to be honest I really don’t go for the golf too much even when an Irishman is doing well, but every two years there is one extreme exception, The Ryder Cup.

And again, being a blow-in Paddy originally from the US of A, you’d think my loyalty would be torn between continents when it came to placing my support. Again, not so. Even though I don’t follow major golf tournaments closely, I always knew the European players better and besides I normally go for underdogs when I first approach a sport, and up to 1985 Europe were well used to being bridesmaids in this event.

Plus, the USA’s shenanigans when they clinched at Brookline didn’t exactly have me glowing with patriotic pride!

But for me, once you have your full support behind one of the teams, there’s nothing more exciting in TV golf than the final day of the Ryder Cup. Once all the singles pairings are out on the course then every few seconds the camera cuts to a player putting and the caption will read “putt to save the hole” or “putt to win the hole” and you are instantly gripped wanting it to go in (or not!).

So in 2006, for the first time ever, the event was staged in Ireland, at the K Club in Straffan, County Kildare. I used to go there on my route for work and the place still feels a buzz from the occasion today.

And to cap it all, Europe retained the Cup over the weekend, so it was all good. Maybe if they didn’t spoil it by making the players pose with the trophy wearing those stupid pink blazers they’d be higher up my list…

#4 : IRELAND AT THE WORLD CUP 2002

This makes the list even though a team I support didn’t actually win anything. Because when it comes to the World Cup, we here in Ireland celebrate every minor victory like it’s a major one.

For the Korea/Japan tournament of 2002, first, there was the qualification when we won a play-off with Iran. Many felt this was an ideal opportunity to at least match the exploits of the Italia90 squad, since for once we actually had someone who was considered world-class in Roy Keane.

Then, of course, there was Saipan-gate, so he didn't play. It was terrible in the way it divided the country at the time, but once the tournament itself came around, we all wanted to watch whoever was playing in green regardless.

And after what had to be described as a disappointing 1-1 draw with Cameroon, we then faced the mighty Germans, and this match went the classic route of Irish sporting contests. Even though it was another 1-1 draw, the manner in which the result was achieved (Robbie Keane’s last-gasp equaliser, see pic) made us feel as though we’d won the bloody cup itself.

Then we beat Saudi Arabia to confirm we’d made it out of the group, and again, there was much partying in the streets and honking of car horns. Sadly, even with another late equaliser against the Spaniards, the luck of the Irish ran out in the penalty shoot-out but it was still a great time to be Irish and only for a certain cheating Frenchman, we could be kicking off the next decade with another taste of the world’s biggest single-sport event.

#3 : SPURS WINNING THE CARLING CUP, 2008

The only moment in the Top 5 where the team that brought me the joy doesn’t actually represent the place where I live.

Well, that’s what it’s like growing up in Ireland. The main club soccer league in this country is well below the standard it should be despite the relative success of the national team. For my principal club allegiance to be for a club based in London, you can blame the Football Association of Ireland.

And when it came to picking said club, once again being the blow-in that I was, I couldn’t go the conventional route of going for my father’s team, so I made my choice based on the result of a game played on October 22, 1977, soon after moving here from the USA. A team called Tottenham Hotspur beat another called Bristol Rovers by 9 goals to nil, and a chap called Lee (my mother’s maiden name) bagged four of the goals, and thus made the news headlines.

Little did I know the game was played in the second tier of the English League, but that season Spurs won promotion back to the first and have been there ever since, enjoying a heyday of trophy-winning in the early 80s to seal my allegiance for good.

But when my own offspring came around, we weren’t doing so well, so I guess I wouldn’t have blamed them for choosing one of the traditional “Top 4” clubs to follow; well, of course, so long as it wasn’t Arsenal (I’m not THAT open-minded a dad…).

Luckily, we had a couple of 5th placed finishes in ‘06 and ‘07 to at least make us the “best of the rest” although we really needed to win some silverware, which we hadn’t done since winning the League Cup on the day of my 30th birthday. So when my son and I sat down to watch Spurs play high-flying Chelsea on Feburary 27, 2008, I was really hoping we could do it to give him something to brag about in school.

And lo and behold, even though Drogba gave the opposition a deserved lead, a Berbatov penalty brought it to extra time and Jonathan Woodgate rose to bundle the winner in to clinch the cup. The full-time whistle was a great moment when my son turned to me and said “That was the best match ever, Daddy!”

#2 : LEINSTER WINNING THE HEINEKEN CUP

Maybe if someone had gotten Eddie O’Sullivan a Plan B for Christmas my top 2 would have happened sooner, but better late than never…

On the morning of May 2, 2009, I’m sure even the most avid Leinster rugby supporter knew deep down that to even GET to their first Heineken Cup final was but an impossible dream. Sure, we all had the brave faces on the day, but history had taught us that Munster were masters of the competition with their four finals and two victories, even if they weren’t the first Irish side to lift the coveted trophy.

And although the official party line from Thomond Park is that the boys in red were too busy romanticising over their numerous Lions inclusions to play up to scratch, what actually happened was that the sleeping giant that was Leinster finally woke up that day, and steamrollered over their nemesis by 25-6 to finally put the pitiful “Ladyboys” moniker to bed for good.

Of all the wonderful memories from that particular day, the best for me was Jonny “Ten” Sexton getting in the face of his opposite number Ronan O’Gara after our opening try. He has since publicly apologised for the gesture, but the truth is the RDS faithful were all with him in spirit at that moment given all that had gone before. Plus the game proved to be Sexton’s premature arrival at the top, a place he clearly belongs.

But after all that celebration, there was still the final to come. Sadly I had to miss actually attending all the big rugby matches in 2009, but I’m not sorry for the excuse, the birth of my bouncing baby boy towards the end of August. So as all my fellow Leinster season-ticket holders trooped over to Edinburgh, my brother-in-law had to pop his babysitting cherry at our place while the missus and I went to my old haunt of Gleesons in Booterstown to watch the game with Leicester.

Again, Sexton was to figure in the pivotal moment…no, not his audacious attempt/world-class execution of a drop goal in the first half, but his penalty that created the 19-16 winning margin – judging by the wry look on his face when the flags went up, I don’t think he expected it to go over!

Yet over it went and it turned out to be the end of an incredible season for Irish rugby. Meanwhile, back in Dublin, we finished our drinks and went home to find out the wee man had been screaming the house down in our absence so celebrations had to be put firmly on hold…

#1 : IRELAND WINNING THE SIX NATIONS RUGBY GRAND SLAM

When the Boston Red Sox won baseball’s World Series in 2004, I emailed my cousin who lives in Beantown. Not only did I congratulate him, but I asked him how he felt, since in all his 50 years he had not seen his beloved Sox achieve such a feat. In fact, they had not done so since 1918.

He said he found it hard to put into words, and only this year do I get what he meant, as Irish rugby finally got its own monkey off its back by winning European rugby’s highest honour in the best possible manner by winning all five matches on the bounce.

It may be easy to say it now, but absolutely everything about the 2009 Six Nations had an air of destiny about it…

The fact that Eddie O’Sullivan had taken the team so close and now Declan Kidney, who actually HAD experienced success at senior rugby, had taken the reins with the same talented squad
The fact that due to the nature of the competition we avoided arguably the two toughest trips to Twickenham and the Stade de France.
The fact that our two rivals for the Championship, Wales and France, had to travel to Rome like us so there was no danger of the points difference being lop-sided.
The fact that England were able to overturn the French.
The fact that Ireland’s final game against Wales fell squarely on my 40th birthday.

Now you won’t have heard expert pundits like Gerry Thornley or George Hook mention that last point I know, but naturally the fixture shone like a beacon from the list when I first saw it. “Imagine if the Championship were to be on the line that day”, I mused at the time. I daren’t even hope that a Grand Slam be at stake as well.

Yet one by one we picked off our opposition…first France, then Italy, then England, the Scotland, with the exception of Rome all by comparatively small margins. But as the game kicked off in Cardiff, only we could win the Grand Slam, but the Welsh could win the Championship if they won by 13 points, so the game was on.

This time we couldn’t travel because my wife was 8 months pregnant, but that wasn’t going to stop her going to a pub to watch the match, so, we chose Dicey Reilly’s in town and went early to secure a safe spot for her.

And while we could barely watch, the game kicked off, and all the unforgettable moments transpired one by one…

Donncha O’Callaghan grabbing Ryan Jones by the jersey early on.
Going in at halftime 6-0 down but still hopeful.
The drama as the TMO eventually awarded Ireland’s first try courtesy of BOD.
The amazing snatch and grab by Tommy Bowe to notch Ireland’s second try and a 14-6 advantage.
Everyone in our side of the pub screaming at the gobshite who held open the door to the toilets thus blocking the TV screen we were all watching.
Stephen Jones nailing penalty after penalty to edge Wales closer.
Jones’ drop-goal with only a few minutes left to get them 15-14 ahead.
The very same Stephen Jones forgetting the new laws of the game and kicking straight into touch after receiving the restart which gave us an attacking lineout in their 22.
With two Jones bearing down on him, Ronan O’Gara slotting over a drop goal of his own to steal back the lead.
After everyone in Dicey’s, and no doubt everyone with Irish blood in them on the planet who had an inkling of the rules of rugby, shouting furiously “NO PENALTIES!!!” at the television, what does Paddy Wallace go and do…
But even though it was within his range and fairly central, Stephen Jones’ kick is straight but cruelly short and Geordan Murphy, who had precious little playing time throughout the campaign, was able to get his name into the history books as the man who put the ball out of play and guarantee my best birthday ever.
Finally we were to get pictorial evidence of my poor mate Noel who jumped at the end and whacked his noggin off a corner in the ceiling and thus was in agony while nobody around him cared!