Olympic CounciI of Ireland’s old guard may need to give way

If you wanted a scene-setter to explain the drama taking place inside, you couldn’t have asked for much better.

In a near-empty Dublin city in the dead of night on Sunday, the Olympic Council of Ireland’s executive committee — minus four members unable to leave Brazil — sneaked into a waiting safe-house to discuss the crisis engulfing their organisation.

Peering out from the top floor office of the Earlsfort Centre headquarters of the group’s solicitors Arthur Cox as they huddled together during a short break, the barely recognisable silhouettes of Ireland’s sporting hierarchy had a birds’ eye view of everything around them.