Armagh natives recall 'goosebumps' after Argentina's World Cup final win

It was quite simply a football game like no other.

Six goals, scintillating skills, a penalty shoot-out and the crowning glory of arguably the sport's best ever player.

It was pulsating and dramatic, a hat-trick from a striker on the losing team, a VAR goal check, an attempted scissor-kick to win the game and a goalkeeper with more character than many.

Argentina are the champions of the world and we might never see the like of it again.

Luckily for two Co Armagh natives, they can say, 'I was there.'

Cathal Fearon and his brother Paraic had tickets for the match and lived and breathed every minute of it in the maelstrom of Argentina's fanatical supporters.

Cathal told UTV that it was a privilege to be there and to witness such a spectacle.

"I guess any young boy or girl always makes a sporting bucket list and you always make them thinking, you know, I'll never get near it," he said.

"Yesterday when we were talking, we were like, if it is a good game or not, we're going to a World Cup final."

Paraic lives in Melbourne, Australia and made the trip to be there with his brother.

"My heart was pure racing and I was struggling to even sit there," he said, "and then you're sitting in this section where it is all Argentina fans, from Argentina.

"So I was just sitting there going, what must these people be going through if they are actually from this country."

He added that the atmosphere was so electric in the Lusail Stadium, he even attempted to be as Argentinian as he possibly could.

"In the middle of their chants I was just shouting out every Spanish word I knew. Shouting leche which just means milk but I was just trying my best to join in on it all."

Other fans watched the final closer to home, including in several bars across Belfast.

Bar owner Pedro Donnell has closer links to the World Cup winners than many, being born there after his Belfast-born mother and father were in the country.

On Sunday, his bar in Sailortown was full to the brim of Argentina fans as well as one France fan who left at halftime.

"I think that is why people came down because of my links.

"I was born in Argentina to Belfast parents, so I'm not really an Argentinian but it is great to have somebody to support in the World Cup who might actually win it.

"Unfortunately the 'Irelands' aren't ever going to do that."

Much light has been shone on Qatar's moral and cultural standing at this World Cup. The conversation and debate around those matters will continue.

However there is plenty about what happened on the pitch to celebrate.

Lionel Messi is finally a World Cup winner, cementing his place in football history. Kylian Mbappé, France's superstar and Golden Boot winner, put in a performance worthy of any final.

It is Argentina's victory though which will remain firm in the memory of those who were fortunate to have witnessed a moment in history. Whether in Qatar, Armagh, Belfast or beyond.

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