Northern Ireland v Lithuania (12/11/2021)

Dowie rose to the occasion magnificently. He seemed to cover every blade of grass and dragged the home defenders all over the place. The home team took the lead early in the second half, but Dowie never doubted that his moment would come. When it did, it was magic. Keith Gillespie on the right touchline skinned the left back and floated the perfect cross on to that broad forehead. The home crowd was silenced as the ball nestled in the back of the net . Norn Iron fans were on cloud nine. The end of his playing days did not mean that Dowie was lost to the beautiful game. He became a coach at various clubs and tasted success as manager of Crystal Palace when they won the EFL Championship play-off in 2004. From coaching he moved into television. He was in the press box on that never-to-be-forgotten night when Northern Ireland beat England 1-0 in a World Cup qualifier in September 2005. His reaction to David Healy’s winner was caught on camera. He leapt to his feet , punching the air. Gary Lineker was heard to quip: “Somebody was excited by that goal .” Iain Dowie could never be neutral when our team is playing. In June 2016 I was queuing at a check-in desk at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. I was returning home after cheering on Norn Iron in a heroic backs-against-the-wall tussle with the mighty Germans at Euro 2016. Ahead of me in the queue was that unmistakable figure. He completed his check-in and, as he turned away, he saw me standing there, an old timer decked out in green and white cap, scarf and replica jersey. He smiled and gave me the thumbs up. I have dined out on that brief encounter ever since. The latest news of Dowie is that he has left Sky Sports to become a mortgage adviser with an award-winning law firm. I have a feeling that they are about to win more awards!

A cold wind swept across Dalymount Park and the pitch was a quagmire. Northern Ireland were well beaten by three goals to nil , but I had seen something wonderful . We had a new target man. He was tall , blonde and skinny and looked as though he could have stayed on that pitch all night chasing lost causes up front . I knew then that throughout the coming decade Iain Dowie would be someone to inspire hope in Norn Iron fans, who were and still are no strangers to lost causes. Someone once quipped that Northern Ireland have three kinds of players: the good, the not so good and the Iain Dowies. True believers within the Green and White Army understand that statement . Throughout the 1990s Dowie, still tall and blonde but no longer skinny, was one of us. He gave everything and it was obvious that he enjoyed giving everything. The statistics of his career in a Northern Ireland jersey are impressive. He won 59 caps, 10 of them as team captain, and scored 12 goals. But no statistics could sum up what he meant to us fans. He was all heart and we took him to our hearts. Perhaps his most impressive performance in a Northern Ireland shirt was in a European qualifier at Dublin’s Lansdowne Road stadium in 1995. Having been well beaten at home by our local rivals, the pressure was on the team to restore some pride in the city of Molly Malone. Under-23s game against the Republic. It was April, but the weather was more like November. In the spring of 1989 I travelled to Dublin for a Northern Ireland

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