It won’t be long now

Back in my Hot Press days, there was a football-mad colleague of mine whose first words upon arriving in the office of a morning were not “hello” or “good day” or even “there were leaves on the track at Donabate”.

No, he would simply look at us all and solemnly intone: “It won’t be long now”.

He was referring to the 1990 World Cup finals. As a long-suffering supporter of the Republic of Ireland, he was relishing the prospect of the country’s first appearance on the highest stage. And no-one complained that he’d begun this daily ritual promptly on the morning of November 16, 1989 – or the very day after a 2-0 win over Malta in Valetta had booked Ireland’s passage to Italy. “It won’t be long now.” Indeed. After hanging around forever for even just a sniff of the longed for breakthrough, another seven months of waiting for the real thing did feel like no time at all.