WHEN Barack Obama stood on the front lawn of Áras an hUachtarán on Monday morning, holding a hurley in his golfer’s grip and swinging it from the elbows like he was warming up in a batting cage, we all knew how he had come to be there.

US president Barack Obama has warned his opponents in Washington he can now keep them in line, thanks to a gift from Taoiseach Enda Kenny – a hurley.