Northern Ireland v Germany

WELL, WOULDN’T IT BE GREAT? I am a man of a certain vintage and as such I prefer to listen to CDs while driving rather than any of these new music streaming services (how does that work anyway?).

I do understand that I have a fairly eclectic taste, and that among Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and ELO you may find The Proclaimers or Warren Zevon (I just love ‘Werewolves of London’). I also have a tendency to randomly select a CD or two that I haven’t listened to for a while, which is how Van Morrison’s 1989 album Avalon Sunset found its way into the car. There can be few greater musical exports from this little part of the world than Van. Feted by musicians and music critics across the globe, Van is music’s George Best, a genius - one of our own. I was sitting at traffic lights and noticed the CD and thought I would give it a play. If you don’t know it, it is a mixture of Van’s typical celtic blues and jazz, lyrical, melodious, pleasant. In the midst of the album is Van’s lyrical poem to County Down: ‘Coney Island’. Much parodied but never bettered. It’s been a while since I immersed myself in Van’s journey across Down, but how I enjoyed it and how I relished the ordinariness of the Sunday spent bird watching and eating the mussels and potted herrings “in case we get famished before dinner”. And the last line set me thinking ‘wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?’ For Northern Ireland fans it is that final exhortation that sets the juices flowing. We live in wonderful days. Since 2014 - that’s five years - we have pretty much been living the dream. An almost perfect qualification to Euro 2016, making the last 16 in the finals in France, opening the new stadium, making the play-offs for the World Cup, and now

the perfect four wins out of four matches at the start of this campaign leading to the tasty prospect of a home and away competition with the mighty Germans and Dutch. It really doesn’t get much better than this. Of course, the cynics will point out a poor Nations League campaign and the fact that we will be up against it when facing our illustrious opponents, and, yes, we will be. However, that just makes it all the more appetising. Challenging, of course, but not insurmountable. We all know the stories – the bigger they are, the harder they fall. David can and does beat Goliath (after all, that’s what happened the first time). Belief is paramount. Belief within the management, within the team and within the fans. The spirit of our former greats needs to be summoned up, the spirit of Danny and Wilbur, of Pat and Norman, of Gerry and Billy, of David and Gareth. We, the fans, need to believe and revisit the successes of the past. Perhaps we physically can’t score the goals or stop them from being scored against us, but we can play our part. Support, enthusiasm, passion, pride and unending belief. There is little achieved without pain and hard work, without endeavour and strategy. This is our moment, this is our time and without doubt, as Van says, ‘as the sunshine comes streaming through the window in the autumn sunshine… wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time’. Yes, it would. It can be. Let’s hope it starts tonight. Words William Campbell

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