Croke Park may have more geniuses on show than an M.I.T. fire drill

Genius, we have long known, is subjective and wears many faces. Whether it’s Messi riding tackles, Steve Smith knocking another century in the Old Trafford mud, or Sinead O’Connor reminding us all what it is to be alive, when we observe it, we can lose ourselves temporarily, unprepared for what we have just witnessed.

Genius is not always sudden; consider the contrived brilliance of Phillipe Petit walking a high-wire between the Twin Towers in Manhattan in 1974 (the result of a life’s work), or Stephen Cluxton, premeditated and meticulous in his consistent excellence, in stark contrast to the impromptu class of his teammate Diarmuid Connolly, a man from whom you might tolerate a dozen missteps for just one masterpiece.