When it comes to passing the buck, FAI chief is no match for Bertie

UNFORTUNATELY, we’re unlikely ever to know what Bertie Ahern and John Delaney said to each other as they sat side-by-side in Croke Park last Wednesday week, watching Ireland’s dismal European championship performance against Cyprus in the game that sealed Steve Staunton’s fate as the soccer team’s manager.

The Taoiseach can hardly have liked being photographed with the FAI’s chief executive. Ahern was booed at a number of events he attended mid-way through the life of his second government, but it was nothing like the abuse hurled at the Irish side, its manager and its chief executive last Wednesday week.

It appears that not delivering on your promises in politics does not result in the same opprobrium as failure in sport. Nor does it require such instant and brutal reaction.