We don’t think Messi is related in any way to late Irish Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty but we’re certainly going to check after seeing this week’s Ireland’s Own.
For certain famous figures, it can be hard to find their doppelganger amongst the living, never mind somebody who has been dead for 50 years, but look at the cover of this week’s Ireland’s Own magazine and try and tell us that Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty is not the spitting image of probably the best footballer in the world in the last few years.
@JOEdotie Leo Messi in a previous life? pic.twitter.com/H1excbbaeB
— Dan Stenson (@dstenson1985) November 30, 2013
We should point out that it wasn’t us but Dan Stenson who spotted the uncanny resemblance and sent it our way and though we can see the likeness straight away, imagine O’Flaherty without the glasses and in a Barcelona jersey and you should start to get a clearer picture.
Although he would obviously never have known it at the time, looking like one of the best players of all time is just one of O’Flaherty’s great achievements; he is well-known for helping saving the lives of 6,500 people during World War II, for which he received a whole host of awards for his efforts and was played by Gregory Peck in the 1983 film ‘The Scarlet and the Black’.
Two legends in their own time.
Hat-tip to Dan Stenson for sending this one into us
