Rising above ordinary reality

BY Matt Treacy

Jimmy Magee - the man from the wee county

In fairness, Jimmy did make one attempt to contact Croke Park but got distracted and before we knew it we were listening to an interview with the psychologist for the Irish cricket team. He's getting on fine apparently but his car has been giving him trouble lately

Listening to Jimmy Magee comment on important, close matches is nothing less than a brutal form of torture.

Once in Portlaoise we were locked up during a really close Leinster match between Dublin and Meath, which was being commentated on by the sublime Micheál O Muircheartaigh. The bould Micheál would be describing some attack as the teams were level when Jimmy Magee would interrupt with "And now we're off to Valderrama for an update on the Spanish Open that starts next Thursday", or "Mrs Hamilton-Winstanley has taken a surprise lead on the second day of the Eastbourne retired school mistresses bowling league".

Jaysus, I was fit to be tied. Bad enough locked up and attempting to calm myself by running up and down the bed, trying to ignore Paddy Flanagan's whoops of joy ten cells away when Meath scored, but Magee took the biscuit. One time he went back to the match where you could hear the roars of the crowd in the background and asked O Muircheartaigh did he remember some chap who had won a Louth Junior Championship in 1932. Well your man's son-in law had a dog in the first round of the greyhound Derby.

"Shut up, you mad bastard. What's the score. Tell me the fucking score." What a great way to relax. Quality time. Anyway the point of all that is to say that I didn't get to see any matches this weekend because I was in Wexford so was forced to rely on the wireless to keep up with what was happening. The next best thing. Or so we thought as we left just as Sunday Sport was beginning, in grand time to catch up on what was happening in the Leinster Minor Final between Dublin and Wexford.

There was that voice again. Jimmy. "Welcome to what promises to be another fascinating afternoon of sport." One question, if it was so fascinating, how come I know so much about the French Grand Prix and the European Open? And he managed to mention someone else who played with Cooley Rangers the year Cu Chulainn won the long puck.

In fairness, Jimmy did make one attempt to contact Croke Park but got distracted and before we knew it we were listening to an interview with the psychologist for the Irish cricket team. He's getting on fine apparently but his car has been giving him trouble lately.

So there we were frantically trying to call and text people who were at the match to find out what was happening. At last we were told that Dublin were five points ahead, and that there were about 20 minutes left. That set us at ease as we gazed benignly out the car window at good Wexford folk selling strawberries and spuds.

More distractions followed before we were given a further update. About five minutes left but the gap was down to three points. The fruit and veg didn't look so attractive anymore. It was a long agonising 20 minutes before James remembered that there are more important things than the Formula One constructors championship. We knew the minute he began to hand over to Croker by the tone in his voice. Something historic had taken place. Yes. Dublin had survived a late Wexford onslaught to claim the title. Delight mingled with a tinge of regret that I wasn't there to see it.

Maybe it's only a small thing. Perhaps hurling and football are trivial pursuits in comparison to the great issues of the day but they are life in miniature. Great things happen and awful things happen. There are also occasions when a match can rise well above the level of ordinary reality. Dublin's victory on Sunday was one such, and a big part of that was the reaction of Wexford and Kilkenny hurling people.

The Kilkenny manager, Brother Damien Brennan had congratulated each Dublin player individually last week following Dublin's victory in Carlow, and again on Sunday both Brian Cody and Peter Barry went out of their way, on a day when they had bigger things on their mind, to convey their good wishes to the young Dubs.

It is a good job that I didn't put any money on the teams that I thought last week would win the football qualifiers. Of the seven played last weekend, I only predicted three correctly, and Meath were put to the pin of their collar against Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon, and possibly fortunate to have been level at the end of the 70 minutes before winning in extra time.

There are some fascinating games in the next round of the qualifiers. Two of them sound like replays of historic semi-finals and finals of long ago. Wexford and Louth were serious rivals in the first decades of the 20th Century, and the game between Cavan and Meath sees a revival of one of the oldest, and dare I say, bitterest rivalries in football.

In the late '40s and early '50s Cavan and Meath were neighbours engaged in serious competition. In the 1949 final Meath beat Cavan. Cavan avenged that in 1952 after a replay. They met again in the 1954 semi-final won by Meath, but never since. There are lads around Mullagh and Moynalty oiling the bicycle pumps. For use on the bikes of course!

(Apologies to Jimmy Magee by the way !)