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Ireland’s Equaliser vs. England Italia 90

Peter Goulding

Thursday, December 11th, 2003

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 [Our first ever goal in the World Cup Finals]

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Beneath the hot Sardinian sun,
England thought they had it won,
Believing simply they had done
Enough to win the tie.
But Ireland were not finished yet,
And ‘bout an equaliser set,
Striving hard to find the net
As minutes trickled by.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Behind his staunch defensive wall,
Bold Packie Bonner, Ireland’s tall
And agile goalie got the ball
And clutched it to his front.
And, as he waved the lads away,
He grimaced in his unique way,
And launched the ball back into play
With an almighty punt.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Up and up and up it soared,
Defenders watching, open-jawed,
As Ireland’s mad supporters roared,
Or gave a fist-clenched laugh.
Up and up and up it went,
Quite nearly into orbit sent,
And then began it’s long descent
Deep in the English half.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 And Cascarino, striving, straining,
Being dragged but not complaining,
O’er the England centres gaining,
Bravely stretched his head,
And knocked it sideways, where the weedy-
Looking frame of Kevin Sheedy,
Like an ad for Help the Needy,
Waited to be fed.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 But Sheedy, nervous, miscontrolled it,
Tried to pass with time to hold it,
Straight to Steve McMahon he rolled it,
As we railed ‘gainst heaven.
But fair McMahon quite oddly gave a
Nation something great to savour,
Unusually returned the favour,
Knocked it back to Kevin.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 This time, Kev was less ungainly,
In his stride, he took it plainly,
McMahon essayed a tackle vainly,
Kevin beat him to it.
Suddenly the goal was gaping,
Shilton moved anticipating,
Sheedy shot with steam escaping,
As he followed through.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Low across the turf it arrowed,
Shilton looked distraught and harrowed,
Thought he had the angle narrowed,
But Kev’s aim was true.
Bulged the net in sweet elation,
A nation leapt in jubilation,
Sheedy took the adulation
That arrived on cue.

© Peter Goulding 11th December 2003

Notes

The relief! I still remember it now! Robson blustered afterwards that England should have had a penalty when Waddle blatantly dived in the box, but we well deserved our draw, if not more.
One other incident in the game stands out – Gascoigne danced around a couple of tackles and then tried to do the same to Mick McCarthy. McCarthy went in with a crunching [but fair] tackle and won the ball cleanly, while Gascoigne performed a perfect somersault three feet off the ground. Oh, how we laughed.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/irelands-equaliser-vs-england-italia-90/