There are some repeats on television that you can live with, such as Virgin Media’s Sport Stories. Flick through the channels on any of these random, rainy evenings and you will hit upon Philly McMahon or Paul McGrath, Roddy Collins or Nina Carberry, chatting about their life and career. It felt somehow apt that we came across Tommy Martin’s illuminating conversation with Eamon Dunphy last week, just as the nation was mourning another journalistic firebrand and truth-teller in Nell McCafferty.
The discussion is fascinating because Dunphy always is. Of course, the most interesting part was Italia ’90 and an angry Dunph flinging the pen across the RTÉ studio (in reality, he just threw it down on the table, but a story can grow legs) following Ireland’s drab goalless draw with Egypt. It was a difficult time in his life, although he is much more upset about how difficult it was for his children.
But Dunphy’s rage that day came from a good place. For years, the favourite target of his brilliant writing was ‘Official Ireland,’ which was the Church, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and all the other mechanisms of the State that held this country back from fulfilling its potential for such a long time. As he explained to Martin, this was the day when ‘Official Ireland’ gathered around to watch the foreign game.
It was a Sunday afternoon and there were big screens in GAA clubs. The entire country had come together to watch a football match, which he says was a beautiful th.