Colin Sheridan: Tim O’Leary is back and Mayo boardrooms are Hollywood again

The upcoming convention was always likely to garner attention, regardless of O’Leary’s Bobby Ewing return, but his strategically timed needle drop will likely cause a few headaches

MacHale Park in Castlebar, file photo

In Woody Allen’s 1971 spoof comedy Bananas, the movie opens with legendary sports announcer Don Dunphy — playing himself — looking deadpan into the camera, as he begins his broadcast: “Good afternoon. Wide World of Sports is in the Republic of San Marcos where we’re going to bring you a live, on-the-spot assassination. They’re going to kill the president of this lovely Latin American country and replace him with a military dictatorship. Everybody is about as excited and tense as can be. The weather this Sunday afternoon is perfect and, if you’ve just joined us, we’ve seen a series of colourful riots that started with the bombing of the American Embassy, a ritual as old as the city itself. Following that, the leader of the Labour Union, Julio Doaz, was dragged from his home and beaten by an angry mob. lt was one of the most exciting spectacles I’ve ever seen…”

Don then hands over to Howard Cossell, who gives an excited play-by-play of the assassination.