Brilliant Olympians give a lift to the entire nation
Sligo swimmer Mona McSharry celebrates after she claimed a bronze medal in the Women's 100m Breaststroke Final at the Paris Olympics. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Thank God for hurling and the Olympics. We will forget about football for the time being.
The ancient game continues to produce modern-day Cú Chulainns of enormous skill and stature. The experts led us to believe that only Kilkenny could deprive Limerick of their record-making five-in-a-row All Irelands, so when we were left with Clare and Cork in the All-Ireland final, it was natural enough to expect that the final might be somewhat below the standard anticipated. But that is to offer insult to Clare and Cork who went on to produce a final for the ages. And that is what those lucky enough to have acquired a ticket were treated to in Croke Park. Of course, next year when the final is played, no matter who the participants are, the experts and scribes will be sent again searching for superlatives to describe yet another indescribable final.
How is it that mere mortals, for that is what our amateur hurlers are, despite their Cú Chulainn-like exploits and achievements, can achieve such feats of bravery, skill, commitment, dexterity, co-ordination and passion when there is a hurley placed in their hands. Don’t ask me to explain it. There is no explanation.
I have to admit that I felt RTÉ, in particular, but also the Irish newspapers, were guilty of an excess of zeal in building up hopes of medal success for our participants in the Olympics. We are a small country and only in exceptional cases can we expect to win gold, silver or bronze against the best in the world. The build up to the Paris Games, I felt, placed enormous pressure on some individual participants.
As it turned out that pressure was well placed. Mona McSharry rose to it like a true Olympian to give Ireland its first (legitimate) medal in swimming. Then came Daniel Wiffen with his gold medal. I don’t think pressure is a word that Daniel has ever had to deal with. His confidence in his ability is a joy to behold. No false modesty, just plain simple faith in his ability built, obviously, on many thousands of hours of hard work over many years.
Rachel Darragh’s participation in the badminton met with a first round defeat but she can always hold up her head and say she is an Olympian. I would not be well up on badminton but I was impressed by Nhat Nguyen’s performances. He showed wonderful enthusiasm, considerable skill, boundless energy and no little concentration to defeat Israel’s Misha Zilberman in his opening game.
I thought Tilberman failed to meet the Olympic spirit of sportsmanship resorting to all sorts of gimmicks to distract Nguyen who had to display his wide range of skills to get the win. Against his second round opponent Prince Dahal of Nepal, Nhat was allowed to show badminton at its best as he went on to a comfortable victory. He was unlucky to then be drawn against the reigning Olympic champion and world No 2 Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) and despite his best efforts went on to defeat. In defeat, he brought joy and admiration to this scribe who regards him as a winner for the entertainment he provided.
There have been numerous other excellent performances from our Irish participants, not least Kellie Harrington in the boxing ring. She is now guaranteed a bronze medal to go with the gold she won three years ago in Tokyo. By the time you read this, she may well have added a second gold which would put her into a special class of her own. Good luck to her.
I admit to being a reluctant fan of boxing, mainly because the result is so often shrouded in controversy as defeated boxers and their supporters contest the outcome of the judges and might also have legitimate questions for referees. Aoife O Rourke, Roscommon’s finest, was on the wrong side of a slug fest and had legitimate reasons to be upset.
More than O’Rourke, Daina Moorehouse had reason to complain. She was in against a French opponent and the judges were on a different page to our own (biased?) experts. Jack Marley, who gave the Irish boxing team a badly needed boost when winning his first round bout, gave everything he had in his heavyweight fight but fell short. The boxers need feel no remorse. They gave their all.
We have done well in the rowing and are establishing a bit of a reputation as a nation of rowers (scullers). We have already chalked up two bronze medals and look likely to add more. I’m not quite sure what it is about the rowers but they exude a wonderful sense of confidence about their ability without in any way wandering into arrogance. They are there to win medals but if some misfortune befalls them, what the hell! There are bigger losses at sea. This approach comes through in all our rowers but is particularly true of the Paul O’Donovan/Fintan McCarthy pairing. I’m sure they will work their socks off to secure gold but I don’t think they will lose their sense of perspective (or humour) if something goes awry and they fall short of gold.
To date, this has been a good Olympics for Ireland and testimony to the hard work put in by the athletes, their coaches and the Olympic Council. And there is more to come. Thanks are due to everyone. The nation appreciates.
When you look at the hurling and see the performances, many outstanding performances, of our Olympic athletes and sportspeople of different disciplines you probably find it crass of me to reflect, in the same column, on the All-Ireland football final involving (is that the correct word... it could be argued that neither team got involved) the Armagh and Galway teams. I admit that I sat through it all. It was the worst entertainment, the most boring football final I have ever witnessed. And I have seen some poor finals in my 60 years going to Croke Park.
God be good to Tull Dunne, if he was around today, there would not have been a northern referee in charge of the game against Armagh. That is not to suggest that Seán Hurson was in any way biased against Galway. No, but he is used to refereeing in that Ulster environment that has a different approach to what constitutes a tackle. Anything goes in Ulster. Two, four, six arms are allowed in the Ulster tackle. The player in possession becomes a liability. Because he can’t play the ball he is done for over-carrying and possession is conceded to the opposition. Commentators and analysts go along with this type of refereeing.
Padraig Joyce is a good Galway man and a competent manager. He saw the way the game was developing and he introduced the defensive structure to Galway. The reasoning being, if you can’t beat them join them. He was as well if he had called his panel into a huddle in the middle of Croke Park and told them to forget what they had been told for the past 12 months and just play the game as it came naturally to them, the way they were taught to play as young lads in the Galway style of attack. It might not have won the game for Galway but at least it would have provided a bit of entertainment for their supporters.
