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So, as you guys know I'm a soccer coach in my spare time. My three sons are soccer mad. I wonder where they got that from? As we say here in Ireland, "the apple doesn't fall from the tree"

The coaching is time consuming and currently it's taking up around ten hours of my time per week, so it's quite the commitment, but there's perks too. The primary one, which may sound corny is that quality time with my sons doing something which they really love. Another perk is that you really get to know their friends and become a positive roll model for them. I've seen that first hand now, especially with the U12s who I am head coach for. Yet another perk is that every now and then match tickets come up for Ireland International matches at the Aviva.

The text above landed into the coaches group on September 9th, the day before Ireland’s Nations League match against Greece. Four free tickets to the match. My eldest boy had been to four Ireland matches at the Aviva before, but my eight year old son had never been, so I really wanted to bring them. I had a chat with my wife and she thought it was a bad idea as it was a school night and the boys would be exhausted the next day. That was very true, as the match would end at 9:45pm and we live in Galway a 2.5 hour drive away, with zero traffic, let alone match traffic. Of and I drive an electric car, so I'd have to stop off to charge the motor too. My wife was right, but sometimes you go ahead with these things, as they are formative memories. I remember fondly going to Croke park for Galway matches with my Dad backbin the day, so I got onto the club and booked 4 tickets for two of sons and my soccer mad nephew.

Great Excitement

The boys didnt know until they were collected from school, so the excitement was fever pitch.

Jerseys and green training tops were pulled from drawers and scarfs were taken down. The road trip was on and there were smiles all around.

Hit the road

We hit the road at around 3:30pm and even though the match didn't start until 7:45pm, it was going to be a close call, as I'd have to stop on the way to charge the auld electric car. Luckily even though I was down to 3%, it took under an hour to get back to 95% and I was able to get some goujons for the kids to keep them from getting hungry.

You'd think we'd have loads of time then to get there and soak in the atmosphere.. You'd be wrong! It was a bit of a disaster actually. Traffic was mental and due to roadworks at one stage trying to cross the Liffey was akin to crazy traffic I experienced on my travels in Hanoi in North Vietnam back in the day. A little bit like this 👇🏻

You get the idea. It was total bedlam wirh guys and girls coming from all sides in cars, bikes, motorbikes, buses and where there is usually 4 lanes, it was down to 1 lane. I mean really? Rush hour on a game night? Madness...

So low and behold we missed the first 7 or 8 minutes of the match. The lads were smiling from ear to ear when we did get there though, so that was great to see.

Unfortunately Ireland were beaten 2-0 by Greece on the night, but the lads did get to celebrate a goal, albeit only for a few seconds. It was an absolute screamer from Ogbene, but unfortunately he had just crept offside. Have a look at the strike below though, it would have been a pinger!

A few more photos from the match

Here's a few more photos from inside the Aviva that night.

As you can see it was 0-0 after 24 minutes.

My eight year old was really impressed with the sheer size of stadium and can't wait to go again. He proudly told everyone all about it in the following days. As I said above formative memories.