What if we take a look back at road not taken?

Last week, Colm Greaves had a terrific piece in this paper speculating on what Charles Haughey’s political and personal career would have been like if he’d retained a financial interest in a lucrative filly he sold on, Ballidaress.

Not to be outdone, Paul Rouse asked a question in a similar vein in his column in these pages: what if Michael Cusack, founder of the GAA, had stuck to rugby, his first sporting love?

Exploring counterfactuals is as rich a field in sport as it is in history, or even fiction (otherwise TV series such as SS-GB or The Man In The High Castle would never be made).