When a jocular Irish farmboy is orphaned amidst the horror of The Great Famine, he sails for America, only to discover he’s been tricked and is in Glasgow, a city gripped by Irish Catholic hatred, where he’s attacked by a bullying bigot. Falling in love with the bigot’s sister and Celtic FC, his stoicism and humour help as he struggles to overcome bigotry and the bully in the divided city, and save for America…

SYNOPSIS:

Teenage Michael Dillon struggles to sing his mother’s favourite song at her funeral. With food for only one, she sacrificed her life for his. She also left him her only possession, ‘Going to America’ gold coins. So Michael leaves the Green Grave on a coffin ship to America. But the ploy then was to pretend Glasgow was New York and Catholic Michael lands in Protestant Bridgeton. There, bigoted Guthrie cynically ‘stamps’ Michael’s hands so he’ll never work, or make it to America…

But, Irish volunteers are helping to build Glasgow Celtic’s football field to raise money to feed the poor. And as Michael sings there, the workers are stirred to tears. The Catholic Celtic team win their first game against Protestant Rangers and Michael finds he has a new ‘family.’ Could Celtic help realise Irish hopes and dreams? And could he make enough money singing to get to America?

Michael’s work becomes singing for pennies in back yards where he meets Rangers fan, Alanna. They become secret lovers and soon, she’s pregnant. But Alanna’s violent, gambler brother, none other than Guthrie, discovers this and plots.When Guthrie’s street football team are thrashed by Michael’s, Guthrie’s thug slashes Michael’s throat, leaving him barely alive, and unable to sing his way to America…

As the flames of sectarianism burn, Guthrie is out of jail, bent on the couple’s destruction. But, he discovers they’re married and loves their son. He grows up confused on the knees of enemies, with different tellings of the divide.The boy fathers Stephen, who fathers Michael, and the old men re-cycle the events that created vitriolic bigotry: the English Government, local Tories, business, the IRA, the Churches, the shipyards, two world wars and more. Meantime, young Michael has become a very intelligent man, and old Michael realises he’s the one for America! But, he needs money. So, he asks gambler Guthrie to bet his savings at the dog track and Michael, tensely listening on the radio, hears the dog win. But now, pains grip old Michael’s chest. And, he discovers Guthrie didn’t make the bet…

The pair fight until Guthrie admits he made another bet. Celtic football club to win the 1967 European Cup, and they did! Michael can fulfill the promise he made on his mother’s death-bed: Michael Dillon in America. But, the fight, the excitement, winning the football match and fulfilling his mother’s promise give Michael a heart attack. Before he dies, the two old fools come to understand each other. And back on The Emerald Isle where Michael wanted buried, the voice that sings the patriotic ‘Soldier’s Song’ at his funeral, is Guthrie’s…