James Horan: The entire Gaelic football constituency must be ready to embrace new ideas

Take a little time and interest to examine the full body of evidence and one will conclude that football is far from doomed. 

Ryan O'Donoghue of Mayo celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the All-Ireland SFC group stage match against Roscommon. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile

Sport, at its best, thrills and engages, tingles the sense and creating moments that get us all up on our feet. We can dip into the past for sepia-toned moments but to underline the point we only need go back to last weekend and the brilliance of our athletes at the European Championships in Rome. 

The team represented the country so well, young talent and promise, old wisdom, confidence, and ability, courage in their endeavour. How relentless, for example, Thomas Barr has been in his pursuit of glory. How fitting for him considering the time, effort and sacrifices he has put in to be at the level for that long. In the interviews, the team’s spirit shown through and added to the overall occasion. Sport played out an exhilarating couple of minutes, becoming a fascinating story.