I have been inundated with enquiries as to my role in the resignation of An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern on Wednesday last. I am happy to deal with these matters here, the proper forum for such issues. This is my only public statement on the matter:

On Tuesday evening, I dined with An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the Independent Pizza Company, across from Croke Park. I had the Spicy Chicken Wings starter, while Mr Ahern had the potato wedges. For main course, I enjoyed a splendid Chicago Calzone, while he got stuck into Chicken Bruschetta.

We discussed recent events. The Tommy Freeman Affair, The Crossmaglen Debacle, Mark Vaughan’s dismissal. Mr Ahern was sombre. He felt the karma was turning bad. “The karma is turning bad,” were his exact words.

“What will I do, Noel, old stock?” he asked me.

“You better go Bertie,” I replied, “before they start shouting ‘he has to go ref, he’s at it all day’.”
And that was it. As we left the restaurant, we saw Paul Caffrey lifting his entire family over a barricade on the Drumcondra Road. I sensed this was a clear symbol the game as up. We were silent as we walked up to Fagan’s for a quiet one, except for Bertie saying Dublin should play Ciaran Whelan full-forward this year.

Of course, I don’t agree – Whelan’s not a man for his back to goal – but, in the circumstances, I thought it best to say nothing.

Keep the high balls low with Noel on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; www.knowledgeablenoel.com; Skype (knowledgeable.noel); and Facebook (Knowledgeable Noel.) Noel plays the team game every time.

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