Writing is on the wall for Ireland legend McIlroy

Maybe now he’ll make it onto the Good Wall.

Tue, 22 Jul, 2014 - 01:00

Kieran Shannon is an award-winning sportswriter renowned for big interviews, insightful columns and an unrelenting focus on high‑performance sport.

So far, it’s an honour that has eluded Rory McIlroy on that popular segment of the Second Captains Live TV Show. Whenever a guest star has been asked to nominate and eliminate someone to and from an evolving gallery of top 10 greatest Irish sports people ever, Katie Taylor has been left untouched, Henry Shefflin pretty much too while Brian O’Driscoll has been only taken off to be moved somewhere else among the top three spots in the pantheon. Pádraig Harrington and Sonia O’Sullivan at the other’s request have been up and down, a bit like their careers, while even the likes of Denis Taylor and Wayne McCullough made fleeting appearances as Rory remained overlooked.

Recent events should change that. First there’s been his declaration as to who he’ll play for in the Olympics, even if he remains very much Northern Irish. And then there’s the matter that he’s just won his third major at age 25.