There’s a term that we, in sports reporting, use to refer to a game of football that sees two Irishmen score and one pay tribute to Conor McGregor.
It’s what we call “the perfect storm.”
The vast majority of Irish interest in the FA Cup this afternoon came via Richie Towell’s first senior goal for Brighton, which was a sublime finish for a man whose chances in the Seagulls first team have been few and far between.
The former Dundalk midfielder took his chance sublimely and lobbed the nod-down over the onrushing Lincoln goalkeeper to open the scoring for the Championship outfit.
Twitter was awash with well-wishes and finger-crossing for Towell to kick on following the stunning finish but there was not half as much attention on the man who cancelled out Towell’s strike.
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 28, 2017
Believe it or not but Lincoln’s Alan Power is also Irish and while his dispatching of a spot-kick on the hour mark lacked the flair that Towell’s goal did, he more than made up for it with his celebration.
Power channelled his inner Conor McGregor as he marked the equaliser with the trademark strut of ‘The Notorious’.
The Lincoln midfielder, like McGregor, wears a ginger beard.
Power, like McGregor, is from Dublin.
And Power, like McGregor, can ‘Billy Strut’ like the best of them.
Irishman Alan Power with the penalty and McGregor walk for Lincoln in the #FACup this afternoon pic.twitter.com/zsbpK7YGdh
— Darragh Murphy (@DarrMurphy) January 28, 2017
The celebration understandably went down a treat and the National League side went on to win 3-1.
GET IN POWER WITH THE MCGREGOR WALK HAHAHA
— tom brand (@tomobrandy) January 28, 2017
YES Alan Power scores the pen 1-1 the game is on and what a celebration doing the mcgregor walk cause he looks like him CLASS #LINBHA #FACUP
— Nicky 🏴 (@NickyAfr0) January 28, 2017
But, to be fair, Power isn’t the only sports star who has borrowed the brash entrance of the reigning UFC lightweight champion.
https://twitter.com/Kiko__Alonso/status/798182117251366913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Get it @SHAQ!💃 https://t.co/ho5p25mxn1
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) November 18, 2016
