Monday 23 May 2011

The Visit


The Visit
Lilibet came to visit last week
To the capital city of Cork
Ground breaking whatever your clique
House of Lancaster, Fraser or York
               
English Market she’ll first navigate
Fresh produce of the highest repute
Founded seventeen eighty eight
Then off to Tyndall Institute

It’s a pity we weren’t at home.
You could have stayed to see City, Nil Satis.
Rejigged Donie Forde with a throne
Entry and Programme free gratis

A half time Corners Boys escort
To Horseshoe Bar could be tricky
Transporting you and your consort
For a Gin and Dubonnet with Ricky

Full time then you’d be airport bound
Our taxi man Bickle’s a surety
Be sure though and take off the crown
To get fast tracked through airport security

And as you return home with glee
Having made some new friends out of strangers
Pledge allegiance, Cork City F.C.
And leave off your promoted Park Rangers

A poem to mark the visit to Cork by Queen Elizabeth on May 20th 2011.
If only we'd been at home.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Howards Way


Howards Way
I think he knows I’m in the crowd
And not because I’ve screamed aloud
Most decisions seem bizarre
But he’s the shining star

I think he knows I’m in the crowd
Antagonistic and unbowed
Blame shouldered by Pienaar
But he’s the shining star

I think he knows I’m in the crowd
Maybe read my verse and vowed
My next foray he’d char
Cos he’s the shining star

I think he knows I’m in the crowd
My parade soaked by black rain cloud
Please take me to the bar
Cos he’s the shining star.

An excellent trip to Liverpool marred by 90 minutes of The Howard Webb Show.
A deflected Van der Vaart goal followed by an appalling penalty award did for Liverpool who didn't play particularly well, Dawson, King and Modric were excellent for Spurs.
However bad Liverpool were Mr Webb was worse. (See picture above)

Tuesday 17 May 2011

The Wireless


The Wireless
Come out for a chat on Saturday
Was the invite thrown my way
A twenty four hour sports broadcast
For Simon Community, as well as fast
Mid afternoon, Ronie was the hero
Talking Italian like Robert de Niro
A tad apprehensive of wireless debut
And possible words that I need to eschew
What if we run out of things to say?
Pat Healy’ll be there so we’ll all be okay
Myself, Pat and Gerry we chatted away
About football and books, at the end of the day
Twas all very cultural, almost academic
A comfortable subject, for us twas endemic
Quite happy to do it, tis there for posterity
All to raise funds for a well worthy charity.

I was invited out to the LifeFM studios last week to take part in a football discussion and talk about my book. They were having a 24 hour Sportathon and had interviews with Dave Barry, Damien Richardson and Roy Keane amongst others. Myself and Cork City FC historian Gerry Desmond chatted about football and about the travails of printing a book. A podcast of the show can be found here.

Friday 6 May 2011

This week my ears have been subjected to



The new single from Pete and the Pirates, not a great title but a nice song all the same.





The Beasties have put together a 30-minute short film, "Fight For Your Right Revisited" to launch their new album.
It's based on Fight for Your Right and has an all star cast.
Danny McBride, Elijah Wood and Seth Rogen star as the Beasties, with Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly mirroring them as their older selves. Watch out for other cameos too even the Beasties themselves.

Tuesday 3 May 2011

Intrigue


Intrigue
Division One now has intrigue
Still unbeaten in the league
Fingers crossed for goodness sake
Refreshed after the two week break
Sometimes you have to face the strife
Change the habits of your life
Take some time out, relaxation
Recharge batteries, end frustration
Must keep winning to stay in touch
Shels and Mons won’t lose too much
It’s early days so let’s all wait
Try and keep from tempting fate
Hold off on promotion dramatics
Til we’re sure of the mathematics.

Eight games in and we're still unbeaten, we've scored 5 goals in each of our last 2 league games and currently stand second in the table, things are good.
But some of our fans have started singing "We're going up", such fate tempting sickens me to the core.
Call me cynical, call me sensible but i've been around long enough to know these things can come back to bite you and they bite hard.

So remember, keep the ball on the ground, stay in by the wall and mind the buses.