Cathal Dervan, Editor
There’s an oddity about a Thin Lizzy track that has often raised its head in online debates, a question about a Phil Lynott lyric that will almost certainly be aired on January 4th next in Vicar Street.
That’s the night of the annual gig in Philo’s hometown when the great man is celebrated, as always, on the anniversary of his passing back in 1986.
This year Brian Downey and Peter M. Smith will be among the artists and you can bet your bottom dollar that Jailbreak will get an airing, including the line in question.
article continues below
Pure passion…
It goes: ‘Tonight there’s gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town’. As those who debate such things have pointed out, said jailbreak is likely to be from the jail and not somewhere else in the town.
It’s a small thing, the sort of topic that can while away a dark evening in a wintry public house as the evenings close in. Dave, the man who plays the music at Tallaght Stadium, might even play the song tonight.
There won’t be a jailbreak this evening by the way but Rovers and Bohs both need to stage a breakout as the League of Ireland title race reaches boiling point and one of the greatest derbies in the world returns.
Rovers were commanding when they played their game in hand against a poor Drogheda side on Thursday night, the 3-1 win putting them back on top of the table with three points to spare over Pats and Bohs.
They won a game they had to win and the return of John McGovern to their team proved vital, the 23-year-old from Newry grabbing two first-half goals and showing the Hoops what they missed when he was out injured last month.
McGovern was the perfect foil to the creative genius of Graham Burke, surely the player of the year this season, as Rovers found their groove again at the right time of the season.
That they won so handsomely on Thursday night will be a concern for the Bohs fans crossing the Liffey tonight for the game they always look out for when the fixtures computer does it thing,
But Bohs have more than John McGovern and Graham Burke and a rejuvenated Rovers attack to worry about tonight. They have plenty of problems of their own to think about when they board the Red Line Luas this evening.
Half the Bohs season, and a dream, came to an end on Friday night when they battered Waterford in the first-half of the FAI Cup semi-final and still lost 2-0 to the Blues.
That they failed to turn possession and chances into goals in one of the biggest games of their season has to be ominous going into this derby. They simply cannot afford such leniency in front of goal tonight.
That’s why there is a suspicion that Colm Whelan will start against Rovers. Many of those Bohs fans who spend their lives online are adamant he should start. He probably will.
This is make or break for Alan Reynolds and his team. A defeat tonight will put them six points off Rovers with three games to go. A win and they will jam open the title door for themselves and Pats - the side they go to for the last game of the season.
For that game to have any real merit, Bohs must break out tonight as the Jailbreak song says, score goals and win the match. For Rovers, a break out of their own tonight will push them six points clear of their only two title rivals with nine points to play for.
We won’t get a jailbreak but we may well get the breakout that is also mentioned in the Lizzy classic.
And just as Liverpool’s music man taunted Manchester City with Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tell Me Lies’ even after the Reds were thumped at Anfield yesterday, don’t be surprised if Rovers fans taunt Bohs with a Johnny Logan classic if they take the three points tonight.
It will be more ‘What’s Another Year’ than ‘Hold Me Now’ across social media if the Hoops trump the Gypsies.
What a game it promises to be.
Coaching corner will return soon with Larry and Cathal. In the meantime, we’ve been spending some quality time with the most popular independent football podcast in Scotland - Open Goal. Here’s last week’s edition for a little light entertainment as we start the week
You can listen to all of our podcasts on our Spotify channel
Check our socials (X here or insta here or tiktok here) for all the latest or just to see the World Cup giraffes again!
No noise, just the news & views that matters. The Sports Hacks is a reader supported publication - if you like what you read, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber and sharing our work.