25 years ago today, Ireland was waking up with the kind of hangover that only comes when your tiny country makes it through to the World Cup quarter final. Packie saved, Dave scored and it was on to Rome to face the Italians.
As we saw yesterday, the influence of that penalty shootout was indescribable for some Dublin residents. And now we have more (non-fictional) proof of that. Speaking on 2FM yesterday, David O'Leary reminiscing about what happened to Ireland during Italia 90.
We’d heard about the country coming to a standstill and all that but the reception they gave us.
All well and good but what about the lasting effects of that glorious summer? Some have said that it directly contributed to the Celtic Tiger and while that may be true, it had a much more significant effect.
Speaking about a recent encounter in Dublin, O'Leary perfectly summed up what that penalty meant.
A young lad nearly jumped on me at Gibney’s Pub in Malahide a while back and he said ‘David, I’d like to thank you and buy you a drink because I was conceived after that penalty’.
Great story but it's almost surprising that it doesn't happen everyday when you consider that Silviu Lung diving the wrong way is directly responsible for an abnormally high birth rate in 1991.
