If you haven't been listening to Des Cahill's new radio show then it's definitely worth catching in on. Des's Island Discs airs weekday evenings at 6:30pm on RTÉ Radio One, where Des is joined by well-known Irish names from different walks of life as they pick out music that has a special meaning to them.
On Monday evening, Des was joined by Irish football legend Paul McGrath, who chose U2's 'Where The Streets Have No Name,' Bill Withers' 'Lovely Day' and a legendary song about the Irish football team that he was part of: Christy Moore's "Joxer Goes To Stuttgart."
McGrath knew Moore from his younger days and the two have since become great friends:
"I'd known Christy for a number of years before that. Before we even went he came over to watch my son Jordan play his first football game when he was staying with us in Manchester. And he just became such a great friend over the years."
In fact, Paul even remembers the first time he set eyes on the musician, after coming out of the swimming pool in Crumlin: "I went out to live in Crumlin for a while with my mum and Christy lived that way and I was just amazed to see him walking along the road. I said "Hang on! That's Christy Moore walking past me there!"
Little did he know that in years to come his name would pop up in one of Christy's songs. Speaking about 'Joxer Goes To Stuttgart,' McGrath felt it the perfect tune to sum up the whole experience of Irish fans and players alike:
"That's what it was like. I think everyone was just having so much fun at the time. And then belief came from what happened in Stuttgart - in winning that one game. I think everybody suddenly started believing that 'Jesus we can actually do this. Irish people are on the same level here.'
"Only Christy could put the spin on it that he did."
His conversation with Des then flowed onto Italia'90, that penalty shootout, Jack Charlton and more. You can catch it on podcast or listen back on the RTÉ website here.
See Also: Can You Tell Us From Which County These 15 Irish Footballers Hail?
