On the Town: Some of Dublin's football legends came to A Little Bit of Blue, a new play by Alan Archbold, which had its world premiere at Andrews Lane Theatre in Dublin this week.
Kevin Heffernan, the former Dublin captain and manager of the team from 1974 to 1985, was among the guests on opening night. Paddy Cullen, Dublin goalkeeper from 1967 to 1979 and later team manager, was also there.
Before the performance, talk was of what constitutes great football and what makes the men in blue special. The greatest attribute a player can have, said Heffernan, is "a combination of skills, courage and intelligence".
Cullen said the greatest attributes a player can have are "sensibility, self- control, vision and team spirit".
Archbold, who grew up "in a football household" where the catechism was football, wrote the play in order to celebrate that childhood and to salute his father, Con Archbold, who played for the Dublin minor team. Heffernan recalled Archbold senior's time with the team.
"He was a half-forward and I was a full-forward. It was in the late 1940s," said Heffernan. "He was a very good player. He decided that he preferred soccer and played with Shamrock Rovers. We used to go to see him play despite the ban. We had to go with long peaked caps."
Fiach Mac Conghail, director of the Abbey Theatre and a loyal Dublin supporter, said the only place to view a game in Croke Park was from Hill 16, where there is "an-ghaol idir na himreoirí agus an pobal" (a special relationship between the crowd and the players).
Richard Cook, artistic director of the annual Cat Laughs Festival in Kilkenny, said, laughing, that as a Cork man, he felt "really conflicted, compromised and upset" going into the play.
A Little Bit of Blue, by Alan Archbold, runs at Andrews Lane Theatre until Thur, June 30