February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
We can knock lumps out of one another at Gaelic football and hurling, and the intercounty rivalry is fierce, but ultimately it’s the country’s performances at international level that really matter on the world stage. However, in recent years Ireland’s desire to win at all costs seems to be causing us embarrassment.
Michelle’s Smith DeBruin’s medal haul at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 was tarnished when she later failed a drug test. Cork-born runner Cathal Lombard failed a drug test just before the start of this year’s Olympics. And there wasn’t a dry eye in the country when showjumper Cian O’Connor won Ireland’s only gold medal in Athens, the home of the Olympics. But it was later discovered that traces of a sedative were found in O’Connor’s horse, Waterford Crystal. Then it was revealed that another of O’Connor’s horses, ABC Landliebe, had tested positive for a sedative at a European event earlier in the Summer. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: To have one horse fail a drugs test may be regarded as unfortunate; to have two looks like carelessness.
To be fair to O’Connor, he was cleared of any serious wrongdoing with ABC Landliebe and has denied the allegations regarding Waterford Crystal, and may yet clear his name when the International Equestrian Federation hears his defense on Jan. 7.
It was a great year for Ireland’s rugby team. Ireland beat Wales in Dublin, had their first win over England at Twickenham since 1994, and beat the Scots at Lansdowne Road in March to clinch the Triple Crown for the first time since 1985. Under Eddie O’Sullivan, the Irish are playing attractive rugby. They earned their first win over South Africa since 1965, prevailing by 17-12 at Lansdowne Road in November.
At home, however, there was frustration once more for Munster in their bid to capture the Heineken Cup. This time the men in red went out at the semifinal stage to eventual winners London Wasps. Ulster, the only Irish province to win the Heineken Cup, failed to get out of their group. Leinster, despite the array of talent available, continued to disappoint, but they now seem to be getting their act together since the arrival in May this year of former Munster coach Declan Kidney.
Brian Kerr has done a good job since taking over from Mick McCarthy in January 2003, but, of course, he has not qualified for any major tournament yet. Qualification for Euro 2004 was always going to be an uphill struggle, having taken over a demoralized team. Kerr is a shrewd operator and he has gradually made some significant changes, the most notable of which was luring back the “Mayfield Messiah,” Roy Keane. Five days after captaining Manchester United to their FA Cup Final win over Millwall, Keane pulled on the Irish jersey once again against Romania and, most important, got a great reception from the Lansdowne Road crowd. Kerr has got off to a good start in the World Cup qualifying. Robbie Keane set a new goal-scoring record and draws in Basel and Paris have given Kerr a great platform to go on and qualify for Germany in 2006.
Credit also goes to Northern Ireland under new manager Lawrie Sanchez. Under the former Wimbledon player, the North scored their first goal in almost 1,300 minutes of football against Norway in February and then had their first win since October 2001 when they beat Estonia in March.
On the domestic scene, Shelbourne took the Eircom League to new heights when they drew with Spanish club Deportivo La Coruna in the Champions League qualifying round. The Reds eventually went out of Europe to Lille in the UEFA Cup, but they still managed to win the domestic league. With five major signings since then, it looks like Shelbourne are now moving on to another level from the other Eircom Eircom clubs. Cork City, who also made history by qualifying for the quarterfinal of the Inter Toto Cup, came with a late run to finish second in the league and Longford Town retained the FAI Cup, which they won for the first time in 2003.
Cheltenham proved to be a better festival for Ireland’s jockeys than horses, with Kildare’s Ruby Walsh taking the jockeys title. And Galway-born jockey Graham Lee rode Amberleigh House, the winner of the Aintree Grand National. Aidan O’Brien had a poor year by his standards, and it was left to Dermot Weld to take the glory when Vinnie Roe won the St. Leger for the fourth year in a row. Weld also won the Budweiser Irish Derby with Grey Swallow.
It was a frustrating, though successful, year for Ireland’s top golfer Padraig Harrington, who is ranked sixth in the world. Harrington finished second in six tournaments. Harrington, Darren Clarke and Paul McGinley all helped Europe beat the U.S. in the Ryder Cup at Oaklands Hills in Michigan in September.
The Kerry footballers restored some style to Gaelic Football. After back-to-back dour All-Ireland wins by Armagh and Tyrone, many fans were beginning to believe that the way to play Gaelic Football was to pack your defense. But under new manager Jack O’Connor, Kerry won with flair.
And though Kerry winning an All-Ireland football title is hardly big news, the achievement by former Kerry manager Paidi O Se in Westmeath was certainly newsworthy. The joy of seeing Westmeath players and supporters celebrate after winning the Leinster senior football title for the first time had to seen to be believed. And while Fermanagh didn’t win the Ulster title, they still got to the All-Ireland semifinal via the backdoor route.
In hurling, Cork made up for the disappointment of 2003 and gave manager Donal O’Grady a memorable going-away present: the McCarthy Cup. Hurling is a fairly elite sport, with only a handful of counties capable of winning All-Irelands. There has been plenty of committee work going on in recent years and at last something concrete is being done. Next year, there will be new competitions commemorating great hurlers like Christy Ring and Nicky Rackard for the so-called “weaker counties.”
Alas, Ireland also lost some great sportsmen during the year. Former Rugby player and Irish coach Mick Doyle, who had recovered from a serious brain operation, was killed in a car accident in County Tyrone. Joe Carr, one of Ireland best-ever amateur golfers, died in June aged 82. It was also the year that saw the mysterious deaths of two young sportsmen, Tyrone footballer Cormac McAnallen and rugby player John McCall, who died playing for Ireland in an Under 19 international in South Africa. Both players had heart defects and since the tragedies arrangements are being made to have defribrillators available at all of their major stadia around the country.
It’s often said that sports and politics should not be mixed, but, of course, it happens. Ulster has had a tradition of saying no, but in these days of peace in Ireland, it’s good to see Ulster say yes for a change. In January, a first-ever Heineken Cup rugby game was played at Ravenhill on a Sunday and Downpatrick staged Northern Ireland’s first Sunday horseracing meeting in March.
Finally, the most embarrassing moment of the year was the sight of Kerry-born priest Christopher Horan grab Brazilian runner Venderlei de Lima as he came within sight of winning the Marathon in Athens. De Lima was invited to Ireland to be grand marshal for the Dublin City Marathon at the end of October, but he didn’t come. Can you blame him? If a similar incident involved an Irish runner, we would probably have declared war on the offending country.