Hopefuls hard at work as we’re halfway to Rio

Ah, Rio.

It wasn’t hard to drift off in blissful contemplation of the Brazilian beach-side city this week with temperatures in Ireland scraping lower than at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Wind and rain levels were significantly higher too and the very sight of all that skiing and curling and snow boarding in Russia served as a reminder that we are already at that midway point between Summer Games.

Another primer came in the Aston Suite of Dublin’s Alexander Hotel on Wednesday when the Irish Sports Council announced the latest raft of funding for high-performance programmes and core grants for National Governing Bodies where... ah, no, we’ll not bore you with the details.