Silly season gives every ‘news’ story a sporting chance By Gerry Howlin

WE ARE down to our last hero. That has always been Ireland’s dilemma.

That is the grip of sport on the crowd. Its mass appeal provides mass escape. Epic in its individualism, it embraces countless masses.

In the arena, any man can make it; every woman can become a hero. Anyone can return home crowned with the laurels of victory, cheered by the very crowd they had before been a part of, and indistinguishable from.