Grand Marshal of 2010 Dublin St Patrick’s Day Parade
Since a lot of people keep asking me who the Grand Marshal of this year’s St Patrick’s Day parade here in my hometown of Dublin is - I’ll tell you.
For 2010 the people behind the St Patrick’s Festival in Dublin have gone for a footballer again - I have a feeling this is the 3rd from the team that made it to the 1990 World Cup quarter-final, with Paul McGrath being chosen in 1996, and Mick McCarthy in 2002.
Anyway, this year it’s Donegal’s Packie Bonner.
Right now you probably have an image of Packie in mid-air diving about to save from Romania’s Timofte to set David O’Leary up for the winning penalty in the 2nd round game.
Or maybe it’s an image of Packie gritting his teeth as he readies himself to kick the ball out of his hands almost the full length of the pitch directly at the Dutch goal ultimately resulting in Niall Quinn’s equaliser.
I must confess my instant memory of Packie every time I hear his name is of that parry and slip from Donadoni’s shot leaving Toto Schillachi free to kick the ball into an empty Irish net as Italy progressed to the semi-final instead of us.
Ah, memories…
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