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| Three Wise Men and the Baby Jesus |
On the shortest day of the longest year in all our lives, the Ulidian Magi welcomed the onset of a bleak winter with a final assembly at the historic Ormeau Road stadium. Much has transpired here since football (soccer to the impurists) first arrived in Ireland in 1878, but little can rival the commitment of this incomparable, eclectic collection of deviants. Still, it has been a year to forget.
All started well with a hard fought victory in the 2019 Dessie Armstrong Cup against arch nemesis Cromac Albion, but things quickly soured. The tragic loss of our Captain left many of us speechless but raising internal questions on our collective mortality and our future as a competitive unit. We came second in the replaying of the Love Street Cup in February but swore to avenge that defeat. All too soon, however, our football and banter world came crashing down when Ultan announced that he was chief advisor on the Stephen Nolan show. What he advised via that medium, was and has not been tidings of great joy. Our activity was curtailed in March and apart from sporadic returns to the pitch, there has been little to laud this season. Until now.
On this most palindromic day of the year (21/12) when there was a planetary conjunction not witnessed in centuries, we played for the final time in 2020 as we are imminently subject to a new lockdown. An exciting match provided a bizarrely one sided scoreline which was perhaps an unfair reflection of the game. Ultan's victorious Vaccinators scored 4 to the measly 0 accumulated by Ron's Christmas Donkeys. A sparkling long range effort from Eastern (where the wise men hail from) debutant, Trung was supplemented by Ciaran, Carron and Gaz. The highlight of the evening was yet to be served though.
In our season, which runs from January to December, we have traditionally had a player of the year vote at the annual Xmas dinner. This was conducted electronically this year and I do not recommend the digital duck a l'orange. The vote, however threw up a scintillating array of prospective winners.
Perhaps it was no surprise (although the look on Mark Carron's face suggested otherwise) that "Runaround" Stevie Huston attained enough fans to give him a third place finish. He regularly covers more ground in a match than Culchie and Cruncher put together and the smile on his face was only matched by that displayed when he was last the recipient of a kinder toy. "Don't drink it all at once son", said Ron in considerately thinking about the ongoing fitness of his infant protégé.
Nobody ever remembers the runner-up, but not so in this case. Giggsy Madden, as he told me he was once known, once upon an afternoon in Carryduff, regularly performs well enough to warrant my vote but then, what do I know, I voted for the eventual winner. At this announcement, all eyes were on Paddy who has shone brightly this year when not starting fires all over the pitch. The fire in his eyes was about to be extinguished however.
Feargal (No fear) O'Keefe plays with his heart and sometimes his head on his sleeve. A regular player and a regular bloke, he required a hospital visit in October after he came into close contact with our national treasure, the Waterford Whisperer. Fortunately he tested negative. In my opinion, a worthy winner whom hereinafter will be referred to as "Fearless".
And so we returned to our respective homes to lie low until Ultan tells us we can come back out to play.
So, finally a reminder to visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/henryarmstrong1 if you haven't done so already and if you have, as many of you have, thank you.
Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year.
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