Northern Ireland v Bosnia

SPECTACULAR MOMENTS THAT ARE STRANGER THAN FICTION Paul Smyth gave us a real Roy Of The Rovers moment in the friendly match against South Korea back in March.

wonder former player turned pundit John O’Neill once quipped that Roy of the Rovers must read David Healy comics! Current player Stuart Dallas had his Roy moment in Azerbaijan last year. At the end of an exhausting game in searing heat he found that extra ounce of energy to fire the winning goal to keep our World Cup qualification hopes very much alive. And who could forget Kyle Lafferty’s last minute equaliser against Hungary in the Euro qualifiers? It dawned on me that this was a Roy moment when my mate Charlie and I got home after the game. Our wives commiserated with us because Northern Ireland had lost the match - or so they thought. They had switched off the television when it looked like the Hungarians were coasting to victory. My favourite Roy moment in the old days came in 1965. It was in the last minute of a thrilling game against Scotland at Windsor. The scores were level at 2-2 when Jimmy McIlroy took a free-kick on the right which was headed back across goal by giant targetman Derek Dougan. Our centre forward Willie Irvine had his back to goal yet he managed a spectacular bicycle kick, sending the ball flying into the net past a startled Bill Brown. And what about the 5-3 win over Austria in the driving rain in 1995? The icing on the cake of that remarkable win was towards the end when Michael Hughes went on a blistering run down the left before releasing the ball to the feet of a player called Michael O’Neill. Michael, keeping his cool, chipped the ball over the keeper and into the net. Yes, folks, we have our very own Roy of the Rovers coaching our team. That is why fans of Norn Iron dare to dream. Let’s face it, what Michael has achieved is stranger than fiction and the cause of great enthusiasm for more thrilling success in the future. Words Cunningham Peacock

He came on as a substitute late in the game with the scores level. His first touch was to control a well- directed header by Conor Washington and his second touch was to fire the ball low into the Korean net for the winning goal. It was stranger than fiction and straight out of the comics which I used to read as a youngster. Back in the 1950s, long before the invention of computer games on smartphones, schoolboys (and some girls) read comics. There were always football stories which appealed to sports-mad readers. The most popular of these was Roy Of The Rovers. Roy was a hero off the pitch as well as on it. He led a thrilling life. Before kick-off in the big match he would catch a jewel thief or set free a kidnapped child or thwart the plans of an arch-criminal to sell Rovers to the mafia. Then, despite sleepless nights and despite bruising from a scrap with the criminals, he would take to the field in a vital cup game. The match would always be a game of two halves. Rovers would be one, two or even three goals down at the interval but then Roy would turn things around with a glorious fightback and a winning goal right at the end. Roy’s incredible career began in 1954 and ended in 2001 (however, the youngster who lives next door tells me that Roy’s action-packed story is being revived yet again, but in a swish modern style in Match of the Day magazine. Roy is one of those heroes who appeals to all generations). Paul Smyth’s moment of glory reminded me of late goals and spectacular moments which have excited the Green and White Army over the years. Some of themwere worthy of the biggest fantasies of comic book writers. Of course, our very own Roy was David Healy. After scoring on his debut in 2000 he went on to net 35 more, including the winners against England, Sweden, Denmark and a hat-trick against Spain. No

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