BOND OF BROTHERS

Boys back for a trip down memory lane

- GARRY DOYLE

THE spring of 1998 will never be forgotten. Peace came to the North, a European Championship to the Republic.

It was a year that saw the launch of TV3 and also of John O'Shea. President Clinton flew to Dublin with a message of hope; Brian Kerr flew back from Scotland with a similar dream.

His Under 16 team had conquered Europe, the same year The Spice Girls conquered the singles charts. They got to Nol with Goodbye; Ireland's U16s got to Nol in European football with Andy Reid.

Madonna sang about a Ray of Light;

Kerr spoke about a ray of hope. "This team," he predicted, "could produce several players who will have big careers in the game."

He wasn't wrong. By the time he retired from coaching, eight of his prodigies had won Ireland caps, the remaining eight squad members making a living from the game.

And on Sunday evening in the Castleknock Hotel, they all came together again, older, greyer and stouter but still as warm and as friendly as they were back then.

"Kerr's kids," they were christened, after a heady few weeks in Scotland when they navigated their way through the tournament by defeating Finland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and then Italy in the final.

As a team they won so much together, but they lost more. Noel O'Reilly, Kerr's beloved right hand man, passed away at the premature age of 60. Liam Miller, the brilliant young midfielder who went on to play for Manchester United and Celtic, died at an even younger age, just 36.

Yet there weren't two empty seats in the hotel's Tower Suite. Rose, Noel's partner, was there. Bridie, Liam's mother, drove up from Cork. She's on the WhatsApp group with the boys of 1998, sharing their jokes and their joy, thrilled her boy is still remembered and loved.