Irish actor Colm Meaney has taken part in a comical advert stirring up the sporting rivalry between Ireland and England.
The Layer Cake star was approached by Irish bookmakers Paddy Power to star in their video building up to the world-famous horse racing event the Cheltenham Festival.
Each year, one of the ongoing subplots of the event is whether more winning horses will be trained by Irish or English stables – usually a close contest.
The Paddy Power advert sees Meaney lead a group of Irish supporters as he reels of a list of annoyances he has about the English.
The opening scene has Meaney stood on a racecourse, look straight into the camera and say: “Look, we need to have a chat. Neighbour to neighbour.
“This is for laughing at the way we say thirty-three, and you can’t even say Siobhan.”
Meaney is joined by his entourage of Irish fans and continues to list the English behaviours that irritate the Irish.
“For claiming Saoirse, Katie and Niall as your own. For ordering a Black and Tan in front of us without blinking, and claiming your grandfather was from Clare, he was a landlord.”
There are plenty more comical swipes at the English from Meaney including the fact that they like to add baked beans to a fried breakfast, involved Ireland in their messy divorce and scared off the only Royals that were ever any fun.”
Finally, he concludes with the worst English offence of all: “And for not caring as much as we do about Ireland versus England!”
Once the criticisms have ended Meaney says: “Every year, we get one chance, our horses winning big on your turf.”
The music gets louder and the crowd that has gathered cheer and celebrate to prepare themselves for the upcoming battle.
The advert is sure to amuse sports fans in either side of the Irish Sea and whet the appetite for the upcoming festival.
Meaney was happy to take part in the ad and stir up the rivalry between the two nations. He said: “It’s a sort of gentle joshing, if you like, given the sporting rivalry that exists between England and Ireland. I think this is a nice gentle push back at that.”
The video has been titled ‘Colm Meaney gets a few things off his chest about England’, take a look below.
