Clumsy Climax...

The mother of all mishaps rounded off my week. I'll get to that in a moment though, because first I need to set the scene.

I made the 3 hour trip to Waterford, to watch Cork City FC take on the local side in the FAI Ford Senior Challenge Cup. It started off being a nice day, with bright sunshine, little or no wind. There was a fairly decent away crowd & they made their presence felt, with a boisterous visual & vocal display.

Unfortunately, they were quietened inside 10 minutes, when former Cork City player, Dave Warren, scored for the home side. It was a lead they scarcely deserved & was their excuse to begin time wasting.

As the light faded, the photographic conditions deteriorated, in what is regarded as one of the most soul less eircom League grounds. I desperately tried to adjust the White Balance & upped the ISO, in a bid to salvage something from the arduous trip.



Goal chances were at a premium & the dark clouds moved in to pile more misery on a dismal night. As the second half started, the rain began to fall & the strong wind drove it into the faces of the home side. They're clearly used to the inhospitable conditions, as they made better use of the wind, repeatedly using it to hang long balls up in the air. It seemed to be their only tactic, as they conspired to kill the game. It's hard to blame them, since they're one of the worst teams in the league, playing one of the best. Knockout competitions, more often than not, lead to ugly football & this contest was no exception.



The persistence of the visitors was rewarded just after the restart, when Leon McSweeney played Denis Behan in & when the Waterford defence seemed to hesitate, he composed himself & slotted coolly past the Waterford keeper.

The relief of the visitors was evident from the celebrations, as they saw their cup challenge revived. City haven't won this competition in 9 years, having lost the final in 2005. The cup is important to every club, but after a poor league campaign, City are desperate for success.

As the game wore on, City piled on the pressure & created some decent chances, but the winner didn't come & we had to settle for a draw.


Our minds turned to the replay, scheduled for Tuesday September 25th, I began to gather my rain soaked gear & headed for the car. Conditions were truly awful & I was under pressure to get everything into the boot, without getting too much more rain on it. As I stripped out of my waterproof clothing, I accidentally dropped the car keys into the boot. Distracted by the weather, without thinking, I slammed the boot shut & inadvertently locked myself out of my car.

There I was, in the middle of a storm, with no waterproof clothing on, staring in disbelief at my secured car. I was almost reduced to tears! I called the RAC but they weren't positive about being able to rescue me from my predicament. Standing alone, in the pitch dark car park, I waited for the patrol to arrive. The RAC called me twice in that period, to reassure me & ask if I was ok. The severity of the weather was evident from the disruption to our phone calls & they gave me confidence that they would do everything they could to help.

After what seemed like an eternity, the patrol vehicle arrived. He was well within the promised response time, but every minute seems like a lifetime, when you're soaked through to the skin, in driving wind & rain.

After no little effort, the patients of the patrol man finally paid off. He managed to open one of the rear windows, allowing access to the boot, from inside the car. The drama was over & I was back in business. I had to prepare for the trip back to Dublin, almost 2 hours later than planned.

I think I need to put this week behind me & try to be a bit more alert in future.
For anyone who's interested, there are some football pictures up on my flickr...