Colin Sheridan: Ireland's World Cup voyage is remarkably free of baggage

Andy Farrell is a veteran of England's disastrous 2015 campaign, and his forwards coach Paul O’Connell could do a series of Ted Talks on successive abysmal Irish experiences at World Cups

HAPPY CAMP: The Ireland team huddle during their training camp in Faro, Portugal. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan

The term 'a bit Irish' is one of those pejorative, icky phrases Irish folk think British people use to describe things that are a bit of a shambles. The recent snafu between the Republic of Ireland women's soccer team and their manager could, under these bespoke terms of reference, be regarded as “a bit Irish”. 

So too the unedifying one-way verbal traffic between said manager Vera Pauw and her employers, the FAI. See also Saipan, the Rugby World Cup campaigns of 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019, the entire John Delaney affair. And the Martin O’Neill/Mick McCarthy/Stephen Kenny succession plan. Each one mishandled with enough “bit of Irish” to ensure we probably shouldn’t take too much offence when someone from beyond these parts deigns to use the phrase. One could argue, in an international team sporting context at least, we have more than earned it.