Three May Babies - and their sporting soundtracks

In non-pandemic times, May is always a very special sporting month. The English and European football seasons come to a conclusion, with the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League all finally decided. For a small number of supporters, this means smug bragging rights for the summer and for the vast majority it means a few months to forget the disappointments of the season gone by and to fantasize that the season ahead will be the one to make everything right. And while football is winding down in May, the GAA inter-county championships in Hurling and Gaelic Football are just heating up, with supporters of counties in both codes briefly full of irrational expectations that this summer will be theirs.

Far more important than the sporting ecstasy of the month, our three children were all born in May, each three years apart. 

And for each of their arrivals, there is a unique sporting background soundtrack.

Our first baby related sporting soundtrack was the absolute pinnacle of Liverpool ecstasy when, less than three weeks after bringing home our firstborn in 2005, I watched the miracle of Istanbul on a small television in our first (very small) house in Dublin, where we were living at the time. I can’t add much quality to the countless words that have been written about that match except to add my one baby related incident. When Vladimír Šmicer scored Liverpool’s second comeback goal and that strangely ecstatic feeling descended on me that we were going to win, I jumped up and screamed. The Blonde was sitting on the couch beside me, holding our new bundle of joy, who promptly and perfectly understandably burst into tears and started her own screaming. The ladies excused themselves and I watched the footballing miracle unfold alone, through to the climactic penalty shootout.

Vladimír Šmicer scores - May 25th 2005, 56 minutes into the Champions League final and the precise moment I made my daughter cry 

Liverpool - European Champions for 2004-2005

The second baby related sporting soundtrack comes from almost exactly three years after the first, and this was not such a happy one. As The Blonde started to feel the first pangs of labour, we checked in to the hospital and I remember mixed up in all the tension and excitement of the evening that my phone was lighting up with text updates from various friends regarding the Champions League Semi-Final between Liverpool and Chelsea. In the end, our second daughter hung on to maintain the family 'May baby' tradition and waited until the following day, May 1st, for her arrival. Chelsea won the tie 4-3 on aggregate. To add insult to injury, they lost the subsequent Champions League Final to, of all teams, Manchester United. 

Champions League semi-final second leg, April 30th 2008: Fernando Torres with Liverpool's equalizer that would take this humdinger of a game to extra time

And then three years later again, towards the end of May, our son arrived. Of the three, he had the most remarkable backing sporting soundtrack. The weekend of his birth featured three matches in different codes where my team came out on top each time. Sporty types will tell you that such weekends (when all your teams win) are rare and special. As The Blonde entered the agony of labour again, we had the distraction of the Celtic League Final in rugby, which we watched on the television in her hospital bedroom. Munster beat Leinster in a match that was taking place less than a mile away in Thomond Park. Neither of us are big fans of rugby but it's always nice to see Munster beat Leinster. 

Munster: Celtic League Champions for 2011, after beating 

arch-rivals Leinster in the final

A few hours passed and, being quite useless and getting in the way, one of the Midwives kindly suggested that I leave the Labour Ward for an hour or two and get some food. So while The Blonde's agony went on, I leisurely consumed a bag of chips and a fish burger in the nearby Supermacs while watching on their television as Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League Final. As a Liverpool fan, a defeat for Manchester United is almost as good as a win for Liverpool. And our son timed his arrival to perfection. As Eric Abidal (who only a few months beforehand had had major surgery to remove a liver tumour) raised the cup for Barcelona, my mobile rang and the Midwife told me to return quickly because 'things are happening'. 

Lionel Messi performing his usual wizardry in the Champions League Final, May 28th 2011 - someone born that night would grow up to idolize him

Eric Abidal lifting the Champions League trophy for Barcelona, May 28th 2011 - the precise moment when our son announced his imminent arrival 

And then to top it all off, Tipperary played Cork the following day in the Munster Hurling Championship. Never ones for hanging around hospitals too long, we asked to leave early with the little man, safe in the knowledge that we were now seasoned parents of three and able to cope with any eventuality. I watched the hurling on the television in our hospital bedroom while waiting to get our discharge papers. And just as we left that room, with the new baby all wrapped up and bags packed, Benny Dunne rattled in Tipperary’s third goal of the afternoon to seal a very pleasing win.

May 29th 2011: Benny Dunne scores Tipperary's third goal in a comprehensive win over Cork in the Munster Hurling championship, and it's time to take the baby home