Priest prays for Hand of God to keep England from victory

A CORK born priest will be praying that, like Maradona in the 1986 World Cup, the Hand of God will this time help Trinidad & Tobago to victory against England today in Nuremberg.

Dominican Fr Dermot Brennan, a native of Mayfield, was an official referee in the Trinidad first division when he was a missionary there between 1969 and 1979.

He now ministers at the Dominican priory in Limerick.

Fr Brennan said: “I’ll be cheering on Trinidad & Tobago this evening at my sister’s home in Mayfield. I am officiating at the wedding of my niece, Gráinne O’Keeffe from Mallow tomorrow and we are having a rehearsal tonight. I have planned the rehearsal for 8.30pm in the South Parish church so I can see the game. I don’t want to keep the bride waiting.”

Fr Brennan said he became involved in soccer in Trinidad shortly after he arrived on the island.

He said: “My work was with the sick and the dying and also visiting the mentally ill in hospital. So the soccer was a great outlet to keep a balance on things. I don’t know any of the present & team, but I would have refereed matches in which some of their fathers played in.”