Like the Chicago Cubs, glory surely beckons for the GAA's great pretenders

The morning of last Thursday week, an elderly married couple wearing Chicago Cubs caps walked into a New York deli. The Big Apple has been their home for years, but the love for their native city had never dimmed. After their team had ended 108 years without a Major League title in Cleveland the night before, they had risen early to show their support for all America to see on NBC’s Today show at The Rockefeller Plaza.

The husband swelled with pride. The wife wore a smile that could light darkened streets. Less than a week before so much turned sour in the US, everything felt just right.

Hazarding a guess, the couple have been around for almost 60% of that long wait. They would have known sporting heartache like few others. They would have known what it was like to follow a team that for so long were perceived to be as windy as the city from which it came.