We’ll never win anything with this attitude!

WHAT IS it about the our national sporting psyche that makes us so devastatingly stupid?

Time after time, in print, radio, tv, I find myself disagreeing vehemently with the majority of our commentators, analysts and experts, on Ireland’s sporting fortunes. Going into contests against what we see as major opposition, we give ourselves no hope, game lost before we start. Against what we see as minor opposition, it’s the opposite, game won before a ball is kicked.

Take this season’s Six Nations. The weekend before last, Italy in Dublin, cakewalk forecast by most of our experts. Didn’t happen, because under their new coach, Italy have improved immensely. Ireland still got the win, but, reaction? No credit; so extreme was the blame game that one expert, in his player ratings, gave a total of 86 to Ireland, 110 to Italy. Our tries, it was decided, were both wrongly awarded, our victory tainted. First try, the ball did drop, but vertically, downward, not forward, was then touched down by a combination of Jerry Flannery and Ronan O’Gara; try.