Written At Olympic Park Melbourne

Here in Melbourne's Olympic Park now greyhound track I sit in old stand and the years roll back To fifty six when I was nine years old And Delany here from Dublin won his gold. In Ireland in those days there was no T.V. And I with others listened to the radio commentary In a farmhouse in Millstreet in Claraghatlea That was coming to Ireland from Melbourne far away. The 1500 hundred Olympic final for men And we all hoped Delany he would win A twenty four years wait for gold since Tisdall and O Callaghan And now victory would be sweet for Irishman. The race began with Delany to the rear And we listened in our hearts a silent prayer That at the finish Ronnie would reign supreme For sake of Eire, the shamrock and the green. And the commentator roared Delany's moving quick And he's sprinting past them with his final kick He's taken the tape Delany he was won And the outsider from Ireland the near impossible had done. Mere words cannot describe our sense of joy And in farmhouse kitchen caps and hats did fly We hugged each other for sake of happiness And one never forget a memory like this. And what was it like for the Irish who were here In Olympic Park in pent up atmosphere When Delany took the tape and raised his hands Signalling a famous victory for Ireland? . And then he knelt and kissed the Melbourne ground With Irish cheers re-echoing all around He had shattered Aussie and the Aussie pride The hopes and dreams of John Landy destroyed. And all of that now seems so long ago But the legend of Delany's run still grow And the Irish who still live retain the memory Of a day that lives on in Irish sporting history. I sit here in Olympic stand in Melbourne greyhound track At final bend the favourite dog falling back And the outsider race up into first place Just like Ron Delany did in his great race.