1

*

When Jeremiah Corrigan landed face first in a mud puddle, Liam laughed. Corrigan fought to his feet, wiping mud from his eye sockets and cursing Lough Larton. Liam took up a position behind him, placing his hand where he should find a piece of Corrigan’s back. The next Innisfen advance ended when Father Patrick’s feet slid out from under him and the ball bounced away. Liam laughed hysterically as Reggie tore out onto the field, screaming he was, at one of the Lough Larton footballers for illegally tackling the man after he passed the ball. When Wee Sean was viscously elbowed in the chin after a blocking a shot just in front of the goal, Liam charged the center of the field, just as he had the day Jeremiah Corrigan, the horse’s arse, insulted his dog. The next play fell apart when he whooshed past two defense men, breaking up their line. Sprite stood on his hind paws and howled. Liam enjoyed that.

The squads paused between plays. Footballers from Innisfen and Killelea consulted each other on their tactics, while Lough Larton squad members rubbed giant goose eggs from the skin on their arms.

*

“The fairies are at it again?” Brendan asked Patrick. “Ya think?”

Patrick nodded. “Surprising how that line broke just where you near brother would aim.”

“You’re thinking it’s Liam?”

Jeremiah Corrigan wiped mud from his face. “Don’t be putting anything more into a good play than you have to. At least not Liam O'Brennigan’s ghostie.”

“Easy, Jerry,” Rory Calhoun assured, “No goblins or ghosties are going to knock you into any deeper puddles than Kinney did last.”

“Kinney,” Corrigan shook his head again. “I’d almost invite Liam O'Brennigan’s ghostie to play if he promised not to knock me off the Highside.”

“Himself wasn’t any fonder of me,” Patrick commented. “I’m sure in a football match, though, he’d rather toss one of them off the Highside.”

*

When the match began again, Liam found the unease in Corrigan’s or the Priest’s eyes was almost as fun as the confusion in the huge pile of human waste in his leather hat as Finbarr Kinney was. Liam enjoyed breaking up the next play more so. He wanted to congratulate himself for the tremendous gust of wind that seemed to formulate in the middle of the field, knocking Kinney’s hat out of a bystander’s hand and into a puddle. Reggie had finally entered the match as a player rather than an onlooker. Between them, the pair caused the ball to slip out of the hands of Lough Larton players twice. The third time the ball had rolled about, gathering mud about its entire surface. The Lough Larton players, who were no less muddy than the ball, saw it bounce off one man’s head, splatter him in more mud, and shoot into the air. It rolled across the field and off into the bushes behind the old broken wagon bed.

Links to The High Price of Football - 2