Hoops living Europa dream

IT WAS Spurs legend Danny Blanchflower who coined the phrase “the glory game”, the title later used — somewhat ironically — for Hunter Davies’ groundbreaking book about a season at White Hart Lane in the early 1970s.

Tonight at the hallowed old ground in north London, the glory can only belong to Shamrock Rovers because anything less than a comfortable victory for the Premier League side will invite ridicule in these parts.

For the visiting supporters, whose ranks will be swelled this evening by the London Irish diaspora, the chance to roar on the Hoops in competitive European action in one of the most famous grounds in English football is, in itself, a dream come true.