Billy's Boots

Billy was a comic book character. He was a young boy who found a pair of old football boots belonging to some very famous footballer...maybe Dixie Dean. Whenever he wore them the magical skills of the former star were transferred to him and he got his team out of many a tight spot on the playing field.
We were all football mad in Doorly Park and took part in the Sligo town league. We had two teams, Doorly Slashers and Distillery. The former was the A team and the latter,the B team. I played for Distillery and we trained enthusiastically in Chips Field. Chips was the council horse who grazed on our pitch in the evenings, and pulled a cart that contained the swept-up roadside dirt, during the day.
One day my father arrived home with an old style pair of football boots for me. They were black and I coated them with Dubbin to keep them in good condition. The first day I unveiled them at training the boys all gathered around and exclaimed, "Billy's Boots" The boots were frequently the butt of many a joke but secretly there remained a sense of some wonderment about them. I continued to train and became, what I thought to be, quite a good player.
Recently, after about forty years, I was in touch with our former trainer from that time, Eugene Mc Gloin, by email. The email was not related to football but I happened to ask if there was a photograph of the team from that time. As it transpired there was none. Looking back Eugene was not that much older than the players he was coaching but he commanded the greatest of respect from each of us. We knew he kept records and statistics of all matches which inspired us to play our best. To my great surprise he emailed me some facts, relating to myself a few months ago.



To my amazement I had been the leading scorer for our team that year.
But better was to follow.




Eugene had picked me on his Team Of The Year from all the players in the Sligo town league for that year.
It is one of my proudest achievements and perhaps due to some leftover magic in my old boots.