Ballygunners’ All-Ireland win gives me the edge in weekend argument

It was all a bluff, of course, me showing delight after United’s win in last Saturday’s Manchester derby. I was among a family group of red jersey fans, fist-bumping and hugging.

And when the conversion began, I was using words like ‘we’ and ’us’ and singing the praise of the new head coach, Michael, whose surname is the same as the road on which I once lived. Bluffing, surely.

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Foremost on my mind, however, was Crewe Alexander and Accrington Stanley’s games later in the day. I was also wondering how my favourite Scottish team, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, would fare out.

My Irish League side, Harland & Wolff – joking, it’s Ballinamallard – had no game. A few days earlier, they were ousted from the Cup by Limavady.

Not a great day, as it turned out. Crewe did alright, beating Barrow, but Accrington went down to MK Dons. And on the other side of the Cheviots, Inverness were unlucky, beaten on penalties in a Cup match with Spartan.

Still, I pretended it was a winning day when surrounded by a crowd with grins as wide as the Stretford End goals. They were all in good form for the rest of the day. And I thought: Strange how the result of a match can dictate a person’s feelings.

But then I had another thought: How different am I? Not a lot.

The exhilaration after last year’s Leinster final was something I had experienced only a few times – like, when Paddy Geraghty blew his whistle for the last time to declare Louth as All-Ireland champions, and a greyhound, Moral Standards, which we had welcomed into the world in a kennel out the back of the house, crossed the Wimbledon line in front, winner of the English Derby final.

And there’s Dundalk Gaels. They have only to win a challenge, and the mood’s good.

I doubt if our crowd’s delight with the Old Trafford result was shared by Roy Keane. Just as he had poured cold water on Keith Andrew’s appointment as Brentford manager at the beginning of the season, the former footballer-turned-manager, now filling his hours in as a pundit, hadn’t the welcome mat out when Michael Carrick was given the nod to take charge of United until the end of the season.

He had nothing good to say about the former Old Trafford player, and even had uncomplimentary words on Carrick’s wife. Seemingly, there was a bit of history there, just as there was with Keane and Andrews.

Still, Keane should get out of the long grass, and instead of trying to get even, dwell on what happens on the field in his role as pundit.

Given the career he had in the red of Nottingham Forest and Man United and the green of his country, few are probably better able to assess games and players.

Closer to home over the weekend was the final of the hurling All-Ireland club championship final. The Man U crowd wouldn’t know who Ballygunner are – sometimes I wonder can they see beyond soccer.

But they can, I know, because in the first half of last year they were in a different colour of red, tripping all over the place to see this county’s teams in action.

The Waterford side, however, are top of my list when it comes to the ancient game. Believe it or not, I was tipped off about them by an avid Oriel Park man.

Jimmy McCourt, a contender with Packie McGuinness for the longest-serving Dundalk FC supporter, had his head turned when the Gunners first became a force in Waterford. They began by winning county championships and then upgraded to provincial titles.

They now have two All-Ireland titles to their credit, the second of them coming on Sunday last with a defeat of Galway champions, Loughrea.

James McGinn, Jimmy’s uncle, has long taken his leave of us, but you can be sure he was remembered in Sunday’s celebrations.

As recalled very often here in the past, the Dundalk-born schoolteacher founded the now-famous club on his transfer to Waterford, and in a nod to his native town and county, chose red-and-black as the club’s colours.

All things considered, I think I got the better of the weekend’s domestic argument.