Giovanni Trapattoni, born on March 17th, joined 1,000 people on a charity climb of Croagh Patrick, writes FRANK McNALLYon Croagh Patrick
“I HAVE never seen it as clear as it is today,” a woman in the car park at Murrisk said. Right enough, as we followed her gaze upwards, the grey-green summit of Croagh Patrick was etched starkly against a blue sky.
Almost perfectly conical, very steep and rather dangerous- looking, it loomed above us like a giant metaphor for the task awaiting the Republic of Ireland soccer team in Poland.
Was Giovanni Trapattoni really going to climb it? Well, no actually. After a big build-up and some early dramatics, the Ireland manager was eliminated before the start of the mountain’s knock-out stages, just above the statue of St Patrick.
In fairness to the great man though – (Trapattoni, I mean, not St Patrick), both his flesh and spirit had been willing. It was the FAI’s scheduling arrangements that were weak.
Or maybe there was a discreetly strategic reasoning behind the association’s decision to fix a press conference for the septuagenarian manager, back at the visitors centre, about 15 minutes after the charity climb began.
Either way, the sprightly Trapattoni at first railed against the schedulers, ignoring their hints that it was time to turn back.
He even broke into a jog at one point on the mountain’s lower slopes, threatening to run up. But as the hints grew more urgent, he finally bowed to the press conference’s call and left the assault on the mountain to others, including the Taoiseach.
“You know the media,” he told Enda Kenny with a rueful air, as they parted company. “Only too well,” agreed the Taoiseach, who from there led the attack on the summit, aptly wearing an Irish number 10 jersey with a five-letter surname on the back – “Kenny”, not “Keane”.
The FAI schedulers may have been wise, in retrospect. No sooner had Trapattoni turned around than the mountain tackled him from behind, proving that the descent can be more treacherous than the climb. A rock slid underneath his foot and sent him toppling, but he recovered well. Moments later, when local photographers suggested he might like to bless himself from the water font under St Patrick, the manager – a devout Catholic – had the presence of mind to check that it was indeed holy water before obliging.
In the visitor centre, having ordered “green tea”, he discussed the happy accident by which he had been born on March 17th. Yes, long before fate conspired to make him Ireland manager, he had known the date’s significance, and he also knew that St Patrick brought Christianity here, if not the full story.
He suspected the saint had “protected” him throughout his football career. So, before the qualifiers began, he promised that if the team made it to Euro 2012, he would go to Mayo and climb (at least some of) the holy mountain.
Trapattoni was making the pilgrimage 43 days and nights before Ireland’s opening game against Croatia. However, lest Irish fans now feel assured of supernatural help in Poland, it should be noted that the plenary indulgences traditionally granted to climbers of Croagh Patrick relate only to the remission of sins and early release from purgatory.
The mountain may have limited powers to influence sporting events. Otherwise, Mayo would have won about 35 All-Ireland titles by now. Both the endless faith and purgatorial suffering of local GAA fans was underlined by a St Patrick lookalike (aka John Durcan) at Murrisk, who posed for pictures with Kenny while expressing the hope that the Mayo Taoiseach might yet “deliver Sam”.
Not for the first time, the county’s football team was also mentioned during prayers in the summit oratory. Still, you never know. Just in case St Patrick is more of a soccer fan than a GAA one, John Delaney – among those who reached the top – made a public promise there to climb the mountain again for every goal Ireland scored in the Euros.
Up to 1,000 people participated in Saturday’s event and raised money for charities including Western Alzheimer’s, the John Giles Foundation and Mayo Mountain Rescue.
A representative of the last- mentioned presented Trapattoni with a DVD of its work, which may be useful should miracles happen and the team ascend beyond the group stages in Poland – from which altitude they may have to be winched off by helicopter.
In the meantime, an indirect beneficiary of the weekend’s event was the Clew Bay Pipe Band. Its members piped climbers to the foot of the mountain with tunes including Wrap the Green Flag Round Me, Boys. By then though they had already secured a result that may prove the holy mountain’s powers.
In the pre-climb speeches, local TD Michael Ring – the “Minister for Sport, Sunshine, and Good News” as he was introduced – bigged the band up. He also advertised its availability for public performances.
Whereupon the FAI chief executive, moved either by the Holy Spirit or by his unfailing eye for a PR opportunity, publicly invited the pipers to perform before the World Cup qualifier against Germany in October.