My lucky shirt for the match at Croke Park

I was about to head out the door on my way to Croke Park for the Louth match, when I paused, thought for a moment and went back to change my shirt to one which I had not worn for some time.At the back of a press I found what I was looking for - my lucky top, with its maroon collar and shoulders, maroon and white stripes and navy band around the middle. The shirt doesn't look so good anymore because it is 26 years old and the nearest that Mrs Youcantbeserious has come to needing a new place to stay was the evening I came home and decked my lucky shirt on top of a pile of clothes on the floor which was destined for some charity or other.I bought it in America in 1994 during the World Cup and wore it to Croke Park that famous September in 1995 when we won our first and only minor All-Ireland. The same shirt was on my back in Limerick four years later when Westmeath won another All-Ireland, this time the under-21 final against a star-studded Kerry team.I wore it when our hurlers won the first Christy Ring Cup and for some memorable outings in the early part of the new millennium. Because I wore T-shirts, on account of walking to the drawn Leinster football Final of 2004, it worried me a bit that I didn't have my lucky shirt on that day - even though I had officially retired it after the '99 All-Ireland win. Out of retirement it came for the replay … and the rest is history!I retired it again a couple of times - but when the going got tough, or I thought we had a chance and needed an edge, out comes the faithful faded old maroon top: And as my wife looks on in bewilderment, she pays me the doleful compliment of, "at least it still fits you"!OK, so it hasn't worked miracles every time and we have come home more than once with the depressing whiff of failure under the arm-pits, like against Louth, but when that beloved old top finally is allowed to retire in peace to the attic; and when I look at it I will see nothing but the glory days reflected in my lucky shirt.Some of you will have noticed a current newspaper advertisement where a girl is getting ready for some interview and is ticking off her check list and top of the list is "my lucky knickers". Michael Jordan wore a lucky pair of shorts from his college days and Tiger Woods always wore a red T-shirt when he played golf on Sundays: I just know there is a good joke there somewhere about a red rag to a bull or whatever … Moving on, I wonder how many people who would not admit to being superstitious will nonetheless value the comfort and security of carrying or wearing a lucky omen. At the back of all our minds, anything, like my lucky shirt, which might give us the slightest hint of an edge, is welcome. I hear and see people … sensible people, who hate to see one magpie and will have to throw a pinch of salt over the left shoulder if any gets spilled on the table.It is said to be unlucky to place shoes on the table and in Canada the same applies to laying your hat on a bed. There are those who will bury a Child of Prague statue in the garden in order to secure a fine day for a wedding and look at how often you will see a horseshoe over a door in the belief that it will bring good luck to the household. I know people who will not book a flight for Friday 13th or will become really upset over breaking a mirror.Most of us, while claiming not to be superstitious, will yet not defy or set ourselves against them. Next time you see a widow cleaner at work or a ladder up against a building on the sidewalk in Mullingar, just observe how the pedestrians will risk stepping out in front of a moving car in preference to walking under the ladder. Conforming to superstitious beliefs gives people an illusion of control over a very uncertain world and often we fear the consequences should we not comply. In fact, the word comes from the Latin, "supertitio", meaning "stand over" and can also mean "fear".The majority who engage in superstitious behaviour do not actually know the reason behind the superstition and never question it - but these beliefs play a part in all our lives. A lot of this stuff is passed down from our parents and grandparents and it seems that every country and every people have their own superstitions. Most of the little oddities we allow ourselves to indulge in are quite harmless - although there are instances of elderly people being intimidated, exploited and taken advantage of by such fears. It was much worse in this regard a couple of centuries back - especially for a poor old woman whom people suspected of looking like a witch and in fact witches are still burned to this day in some African countries. In China, the burning of certain types of paper is believed to keep devils at bay. That is fine and dandy in a grate or on dry land, but believing that the boats are even more under threat than on shore, the natives light the papers on board the boats, which often go on fire and sink with loss of life for all on board - proving beyond doubt now that they were attacked by the devils. Someone should tell them about the Saint Christopher medal!Don't ForgetLost hope is the undertaker's best friend.