Tiger Boots (4 page)

I
t was 7 November, the morning of Littlestown Crokes’ second-last league game in the under-Fourteens Division 1.

Danny’s team had struggled in the first half of the season, but gained tremendous confidence from their super run in the Féile, reaching the final.

The Crokes had battled their way into contention for runner up spot in the league.

The top of their table looked like this with just two games remaining:

Chapel Hall were already league winners. There was no catching them and with all credit to Mick’s team, the Crokes were the only team in the league to take a single point from them.

Barnfield were at home to Darnville, who were mid-table, and the Crokes were away to Fergally G.F.C., who were at the bottom.

They both were huge games for the Crokes and Barnfield as both were drawn yet again to play each other in the last game of the league on the Little Croker.

Everyone knew that the Crokes had the easier second-last game as Fergally were a poor side, but Barnfield were a point ahead of the Crokes in the league and this was playing on Danny’s mind in the car on the way out to 
Fergally’s grounds.

‘Do you think Barnfield will win today, Da?’ Danny asked.

Todd was in the back of the car. He was flying out later that night to Australia, but had promised that he would play one more game for the Crokes.

‘Aren’t they ahead of us in the league?’ Todd responded first.

‘That’s right, Todd,’ Mick agreed. ‘It’s out of our hands, Danny. Don’t even think about it, son. All we can do is play our game and hope that Darnville do us a favour today by beating Barnfield.’

‘Unlikely!’ huffed Danny, who was thinking about Tommy Dempsey’s taunting words in Tesco, the night that they were fund raising for Clara.

If you finish ahead of us in the league, I’ll give you this twenty euro for your collection.

Mick pulled Barry Sweeney and Doyler to one
side before he announced his team to play Fergally.

Barry Sweeney had lost his position in the team when he broke his collarbone earlier in the season in the game against Chapel Hall on the Little Croker.

Mick had pushed Doyler up into Barry’s full forward position and Todd had then joined the team and taken up the position of centre half forward.

Both Todd and Doyler played well for the rest of the season and Barry struggled to get back into the starting fifteen.

This was something that Mick, along with every other good coach, had to face when selecting a team.

‘Right lads,’ Mick started, ‘as yiz both know, this is Todd’s last game before he goes home.’

Barry and Doyler nodded their heads in anticipation of Mick’s next words.

‘I’m going to start you today, Barry,’ Mick continued.

Barry’s face lit up, but Doyler lowered his 
head in disappointment.

Mick put his hand on Doyler’s shoulder.

‘Don’t worry, Doyler. I just want Barry to get a full game in before we play Barnfield in the last match. You’ll be taking up your old position of centre half forward for that game. Is that alright, son?’

Doyler nodded and smiled. He was gutted, but he knew that Mick was just trying to do the right thing to get the right result for the whole team and sometimes that meant individuals making sacrifices.

Danny and Jonathon took up their positions in midfield as the referee called for everyone’s attention.

‘Best of luck Danny,’ Jonathon said. He was his captain’s rock.

Danny smiled back to his cousin.

‘Let’s make this a good one for Todd.’

He gave Todd a thumbs up. Todd winked and returned the gesture. 

The whistle was blown and the ball was thrown in.

Danny was far superior to his opponent. He palmed the ball to Jonathon with ease and received a quick return to send him off on a Danny Wilde solo.

He dodged two players, then a third, before releasing a long ball out to Splinter at left full forward.

Splinter beat his marker to the ball and sent in a low and accurate pass along the ground to Barry.

Barry Sweeney clipped the ball up into his hands and instead of doing what he did best and knocking the ball over his head for a point, Barry unselfishly fisted the ball out to Todd who took aim and put Crokes ahead with a high kick between the posts.

Danny never took any game or opponent for granted, but he knew that this game was not going to be their toughest – they had already trashed Fergally on the Little Croker in their home game. 

Danny could even hear one or two of the Fergally players whispering comments about him as he jogged back into position.

‘He’s a class player,’ said one player.

‘Yeah! He plays for the Dublin development squad. I heard that he’s one of their best players – a future Dubs’ player!’ said another.

It felt great to Danny to hear other players talking about him like that, but he still had to knuckle in and get the result. That’s what counted – not compliments on the field, but action – good action.

Danny didn’t disappoint those two players. He turned on a performance that was by far one of the best individual performances of the season.

He scored three super points – set up Barry and Jason Delaney, Crokes’ right full forward for a goal each and literally ran himself ragged in the first half.

By half time, nearly all the Fergally squad was talking about him – coaches and supporters included. 

Crokes ran over for their half time oranges leading by a score of 0-0, 2-4.

Mick didn’t have to think too hard as to what to say to his team at half time.

He was thrilled with their work rate and very proud of Danny, but he didn’t say too much and over emphasize that, being Danny’s dad as well as team coach.

Jimmy called Mick aside and suggested that he might make a couple of changes considering the Crokes were winning so easily. Mick agreed.

He replaced Brian O’Reilly at left half forward with little John Watson and Paddy Timmons at right full back with Niall Clarke.

Splinter made a slagging gesture to Paddy Timmons, which didn’t go unnoticed by his father, Jimmy.

‘Do you want to spend the second half in the car?’ Jimmy asked, sternly. Neither Jimmy nor Mick tolerated any teasing of that kind.

‘What?’ Splinter laughed, then he realised that Jimmy was serious, so he hid in behind 
Todd, who was much bigger than him.

The second half was ten minutes under way when Jimmy’s phone started ringing.

The Crokes had already added another three points. They were well on their way to slaughtering Fergally.

‘You’re kidding me,’ Jimmy said into the phone.

That caught Mick’s attention. He had a good hunch about who was on the other line.

Jimmy had asked his eldest son, Mark, to keep an eye on Barnfield’s game against Darnville, as Barnfield’s grounds weren’t far from the Little Croker.

‘Is that Mark?’ Mick asked anxiously, while trying to keep one eye on the game.

‘Hold on, Mark,’ said Jimmy. ‘You’re not going to believe it,’ he said to Mick.

‘What? Tell me!’

‘Barnfield are five points down to Darnville.’

‘Yes!’ Mick cheered; he punched the air and 
spun around.

‘Come on, Crokes,’ Mick fussed. It was like a dream. ‘How long left Jimmy?’

Jimmy didn’t answer. He was all ears to whatever Mark was telling him.

‘Okay! Thanks son. Ring me when it’s over.’ Jimmy put the phone back in his pocket. ‘You’re not going to believe this either, Mick.’

‘What?’

Jimmy went on to tell Mick that Barnfield’s manager had taken ill during the game.

‘A stomach bug,’ he said. ‘The assistant manager was away, so Tommy Dempsey stepped in to manage the team for the rest of the game.’

‘Mark says that he’s causing uproar,’ Jimmy said.

‘He would,’ Mick agreed.

Suddenly, Jimmy jumped up and cheered.

‘Goal!’

Danny had buried a twenty-yard right hook into the back of Fergally’s net.

Shortly afterwards, the referee blew the full 
time whistle, after Danny and Barry had added another point each.

The Crokes had beaten their deflated opponents by a score of 0-1 to 3-9.

Mick gathered all of his players together before everyone went back to their own cars for the journey home – he had the result of the Barnfield game! He and Jimmy were smiling as they announced to the team that Darnville had beaten Barnfield.

Everyone cheered.

‘We only need to draw the last game,’ said Mick.

Everyone was hyper going home. They honestly thought that Barnfield would be going into the last game of the season with the upper hand on Crokes, but Darnville did them the favour they wished for and now Crokes were in the runner up spot going into the final game on the Little Croker on 21 November. 

M
ick and Danny dropped Todd to his house on the way home.

Mick wanted to say a proper goodbye to Sarah and he knew that Danny and Todd probably wanted to say their goodbyes too. They had become good friends over the past seven months.

Sarah had noticed the car pulling up outside. She came out to greet them.

Todd grabbed his bag out of the boot of Mick’s car and put his hand out to shake Danny’s.

Danny grasped Todd’s hand and the two pals gave each other a boyish hug and a pat on the back.

Mick and Sarah just shook hands.

‘Text me,’ Danny said to Todd.

‘No problem, mate. I’ll fill ya in on all my footy, that’s if I can remember how to play footy.’

‘I’m sure your mate, Wayne, will help you remember a thing or two.’ Danny smiled at him.

The two boys laughed.

They said their final goodbyes, and then Mick and Danny drove off down the road, leaving Todd and Sarah standing at their gate waving.

The following morning, Mick and Danny went to put flowers on Danny’s mam’s grave.

It was her anniversary – a sad day in their lives every year – but Danny and Mick drew great strength from each other’s support.

The sun was radiant, and Mick and Danny were sitting on the grass. Mick was telling Danny different stories about his mam.

Danny felt that his mam was there with them as he listened to his father, and watched 
carefully how his father’s face lit up with each and every happy memory.

‘Is there anything mammy really wanted to do but never got the chance to?’ Danny asked.

Mick had to think for a few seconds.

Danny spoke again before Mick could answer because he suddenly realised that maybe the question would make his father think of how Danny’s mam would really loved to have been around while Danny was growing up.

‘Like, did she ever want to go anywhere, and didn’t get the chance to?’

Mick smiled.

‘America,’ he said.

‘Really?’ Danny’s eyes lit up. ‘Why?’

Mick shrugged. ‘Not sure, son. She just always seemed to want to go there – to see America. I don’t know whether it was the size of the country or its history or maybe just the shops.’ Mick laughed.

Danny laughed, too.

‘It’s a pity she didn’t get to go, Da,’ Danny 
said.

‘I know, son,’ said Mick. ‘Some things in life are just not meant to be. Who knows, maybe some day we’ll get to see it for her.’

‘Yeah!’ Danny smiled. Suddenly, he thought of his dream that he shared with his pals in the school toilets.

Just maybe, Da, he thought. Just maybe!

After dinner, Danny thought that he would check his e-mail to see if there was one from Clara.

There was, and it said:

Danny jumped straight out of his chair and went looking for Mick. Mick was at the front door having a chat with Jimmy about the match the day before and how they were going to go into the final game against Barnfield.

‘Da!’ Danny called, excitedly.

‘How ya, Danny?’ Jimmy asked.

‘All right, Jimmy.’

‘What is it, son?’ Mick asked. He could see that Danny had something good to tell him.

‘You’re not going to believe it, Da.’

Mick waited.

‘Clara wants … I mean Archie, too. They all want us to go over to Boston for the fund raiser.’

‘What?’ Mick was shocked.

‘That’s great, lads,’ said Jimmy. ‘You two haven’t had a holiday in ages. It’ll do yiz the world of good.’

Jimmy knew it was Danny’s mam’s 
anniversary. That was partly the reason why he called over to see Mick. That was just the way Jimmy was, and Mick loved that about him.

‘Can we go, Da?’ Danny asked.

Mick was still in shock. He couldn’t help but think of how he and Danny had discussed earlier that day how Danny’s mam would have loved to have gone to America, and now this was happening on her anniversary.

Maybe we’ll get to see it for her! The memory of his own words spun around in Mick’s head.

This was meant to be! he thought.

‘Go on, Mick,’ Jimmy encouraged.

Danny waited nervously for Mick’s reply.

Finally, Mick spoke, ‘Boston here we come!’

Danny and Mick danced around in a circle, while Jimmy patted them on the back, chuffed to bits to see them so happy.

Danny left Mick and Jimmy at the door and returned to the computer to let Clara know that they were coming to Boston.

He wrote: