Enda and the lads had great sport at the launch of the autobiography of an old Fine Gael hand, writes MIRIAM LORD
THREE National Treasures and the Taoiseach.
What a sight: Billo, Eamo, Gilesie and Enda, sitting together in a line, happy as sandboys.
Such laughs they were having last night.
Now Kenny will sail into this morning’s Cabinet meeting and tell Noonan and Howlin he had a great time in the Merrion Hotel with the troika.
And he’ll be telling the truth.
The occasion was the launch of sport’s broadcaster Bill O’Herlihy’s autobiography, and the Taoiseach was only too delighted to do the honours for his old friend and mentor. (Bill is a big Fine Gael supporter and a former party strategist.)
Analysts extraordinaire, Johnny Giles and Eamon Dunphy, were on hand to support their studio anchorman.
For any readers who have recently emerged from life in an enclosed order, Bill has been marshalling RTÉ’s opinionated panel of football experts for decades.
These men are the prime rib of punditry.
A cut above.
They have an adoring Irish public, drawn from football aficionados, connoisseurs of intelligent debate and all manner of TV watchers in between. Enda, it seems, is one of them.
It’s all part of the day job for a Taoiseach to meet big names from the world of entertainment, business and politics. But legends don’t come along that often.
Last night, you could see Enda was chuffed to be in the illustrious company of Billo, Eamo and Gilesie.
The organisers were anxious to get the launch under way. But there was no sign of any movement, as the Taoiseach chatted away to Ireland’s Crabby Trinity of soccer sages.
“The protocol people want to start, but the Taoiseach doesn’t,” said a man hovering anxiously by the lectern, looking down at the four aul’ fellas who were the toast of the room.
But then, they – and we’re not counting the politician here – are the triumph of experience over hot air.
The Taoiseach called them “The three caballeros.”
Enda was sitting beside Eamo, with Billo next to him and Gilesie at the other end. O’Herlihy used to be a major Fine Gael adviser back in the day, but Dunphy looked like the one giving all the advice to the Taoiseach last night.
Both Enda and Eamo are very touchy feely. As they talked excitedly to each other, the Taoiseach was thumping Dunphy on the arm and Dunphy was slapping and prodding at the Taoiseach. They were like a pair of boxing kangaroos.
But then Enda didn’t want to leave out the other two. So he learned forward in his seat, trying to enfold all three in a hug. All this while holding a copy of Bill’s book We’ll Leave It There So in his free hand and facing it towards the cameras.
For politicians, analysis is a great thing, when it doesn’t concern their own trade. Accordingly, the Taoiseach had nothing but praise for the work of the RTÉ pundits – “an extraordinary collection of individuals”. He shares a political past with O’Herlihy which spans decades. They canvassed together many times.
Enda called him “a friend, a mentor and a person you can be absolutely proud of”.
As for Dunphy, he too was unstinting in his praise of his studio chairman. He knows how difficult it is to keep a show running successfully. “I’ve had two goes at presenting a show and I was useless at both . . .”
The two men started together 34 years ago, with Giles coming aboard eight years later.
They were determined that it wouldn’t be any old analysis and wanted “to do away with the banalities and the pap and the misleading rubbish you get elsewhere”.
We’ll Leave It There So, written in conjunction with journalist Ewan McKenna, published by Paperweight Publications. Available nationwide in hardback at €19.99