Cooper has last word on sport’s wasted boom years

MATT COOPER isn’t long pinpointing the influence of the boom years on Irish sport. However, the host of The Last Word differentiates between participants and spectators when discussing how that influence works.

“Something that interests me is the work ethos that Irish sports teams have adopted. The Irish and Munster rugby teams didn’t get anything easy, they had the traditional Irish thing of being gallant losers, but they changed that through hard work. The Kilkenny hurlers the same, Tyrone footballers the same.

“It’s not the same for the soccer team, which is interesting. You’d wonder if the fact they have a different attitude because they left Ireland in their early teens.