WORLD CUP USA ’94 / ROUND OF 16 : SPOTLIGHT : A LITTLE HELP . . .

An Irish Sunday newspaper considered fears of 100-degree temperatures in Orlando and the problems Ireland would have with the heat, then sought divine intervention for today’s game against the Netherlands.

Michael Keene, editor of The Sunday Press, asked the religion columnist, the Rev. Colm Kilcyone, for a prayer for rain and published it on Page 1.

Under the headline “A Nation Prays,” Kilcyone wrote:

“God our Father, lord of the elements. We ask pardon for the times past when we have been ungrateful and grumbled about the rain.

“We now thank you that you have given us a wet and misty island as home. We praise you for the soft ground and regular rain.

“We beseech you: Look favorably on our prayers for wet weather in Orlando tomorrow. May your clouds shield our footballers from the scorching sun.

“Send your rains to water the pitch. Let a gentle, damp breeze be on the backs of our players in both halves. We ask this through Christ Our Lord.”