Home from Home by John O’Cahan

It was September 10th, and the day of the Northern Ireland – Czech Republic game. I couldn’t afford to go to the game in Belfast, so I decided to meet up with the London NISC in London and watch the game. got the train down to London, and got off at Finsbury Park. Then I got the Piccadilly Line down to Piccadilly, where I got off and found my way to the Sports Cafe on Haymarket. As I walked down Haymarket I unzipped my jacket to reveal my white and green Northern Ireland shirt. As luck would have it when I reached the Cafe there was another Northern Ireland supporter outside, with a home shirt on. I went up to him to say hello. His name was Richard, and we chatted a bit as we waited in line to get in. There were two other members of the GAWA in the queue with us, one of them a very tall feller who I had to crack my neck to see!
  
Anyway, we got to the door, and I paid £5 entry. I got a free drink as well, and I chose a Vodka. I didn’t know where the Northern Ireland games were usually on, so I followed Richard. We went up the stairs, and I’d never seen anywhere like it. It looked like a TV
shop – and it was so crowded full of people with al variety of accents and languages it was hard to hear yourself think. We saw a load of fellers in green tops, and made our way over. However these were the Republic, so we about-faced rather sharply and found our way to the Northern Ireland supporters. They were in the “Executive Box” at the far
end. There, we met up with our two friends we’d met outside. There was about an hour to go until the kickoff, so we stood, drank, and chatted. Gradually more and more Ulstermen arrived and joined us – eventually there were about a dozen of us.
  
We were all surprised to find that Steve Davis wouldn’t be playing. We discussed who would be taking his place, and I suggested Michael O’Connor of Crewe – however when the team was read out we saw Baird had been moved up to midfield from his normal right-back position, with George McCartney taking his place. The game kicked off. The Czechs had us on the ropes a bit but they just couldn’t find a goal, to our delight. We made a lot of noise, drowning out the hordes of English fans watching next to us. Gradually the boys in Green and White forced their way back into it, and at one point the Czechs nearly scored an own goal! Unfortunately Cech managed to turn it round for a corner, and nothing came of it. At half time the score was still 0-0. O’Connor did come on for the second half, after Sammy Clingan hurt his shoulder. The second half started, and almost right away we had a great chance. Feeney was clean through, but he scuffed his shot and Cech got to it with his leg. It bounced out to Brunt who smashed it over. We were all buzzing now – but like I said to Richard, we should have liked to have had Healy on the end of that. A while after, Brunt tried to score from the halfway line, and to his credit, it wasn’t that far off. However this isn’t Roy of the Rovers, and he should maybe have tried to make something better of it. We had a few more good chances towards the end, Gillespie in particular had a ferocious shot saved by Cech, but nothing really clear-cut. Feeney was replaced by Paterson, and Gillespie, who had looked knackered all game, finally came off on 80 minutes for Dean Shiels The Scotland game next to us ended, and their fans started
cheering for us too. In injury time, Healy broke through and we all held our breath – but he missed. We all cheered at the final whistle – we’d have taken a draw at the start
of the game.The barman shouted ‘Four pitchers for these Northern Ireland boys!’ and we all cheered again. However I needed to get home to the missus, so I quickly said farewell to my new friends and made my way home.
  
I can’t wait until next time.