Kieran Shannon: A positive from the defeat to Wales? Our frustration shows we still care

It’s a time of frustration for sure, but not for despair. And that frustration isn’t necessarily all bad

Ireland's Will Connors consoles Billy Burns after the game. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

At first this was going to be a bit of a moan about all the moaning that can come with an Irish rugby defeat — just as some victories of theirs can trigger an overreaction as well.

But then it dawned. The condemnation of the ‘folly’ of Peter O’Mahony with some even calling that he should be dropped as well as suspended; the frustration over Billy Burns’ lamentable kick to the corner and how Ireland coughed up a winnable game that seemed hopeless at one point; the speculation and lack of conviction over whether Andy Farrell is the man to take us beyond this campaign and all the way to France 2023; it actually all stems from a sense that this matters. This mattered. The complaining came from a sense of caring, or at least of interest. We’d been stirred again. We’d stirred again.