| It won't be easy - for them |
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| Tuesday, 26 September 2006 | |
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The legendary Billy Sinclair, manager of the league winning side in 1977 was guest of honour at the game against St Patrick's Athletic last week. Regular contributro, Conall Collier reflects on times past and times ahead.
___________________________________________________________________________________________ We couldn’t lose. Those of us who were old enough to remember the swagger we had in 1977 with the likes of Hulmes, Fielding, Leonard, Fagan, Patterson and the rest of the crew. And King Billy at the helm. Someone might explain to the younger supporters. I remember thinking in 1977, on that historic Easter Sunday – “It’s 40 years since we won the League, that’s an awful long time, how old some of the supporters are.” And now, almost 30 years later I slot into that category myself. Hopefully I won’t have to wait until 2017 for the next one. Last Saturday night we knew that when Billy came back to watch the modern gladiators in red and white stripes that we would show the same sort of resolve. Again we have a sprinkling of locals, a flavour from N. Ireland, an influence from England and a touch of Bosnia, a country we had never even heard of back in 1977. Poor St. Pat’s. They grabbed two goals and started to waste time. The ‘keeper even resorted to rubbing his nose in the 18-yard line – maybe he’ll get a tissue the next time?? And the chant: “Your only a small club in Tallaght” It was good even if the geography was a bit wayward. The atmosphere is coming back – well done to all the supporters who came out and got behind the team. What I liked most about our attitude – we had the courage to start knocking the ball around on the deck even at 1-2 adrift and only 15 minutes remaining. We got our reward – a brilliant equaliser. And we all would have been happy with that, but not the team. And that’s what’s most encouraging. We left it late, but we got there. A new penalty king sent us all home happy. Even Billy had to have been impressed. This team is only starting to play – the end of season run in could be very eventful and we’ve got all the leading contenders to play. It won’t be easy, for them. by Conall Collier |
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