Roy's legacy: Sad seconds no longer our style

WE STILL make a frustrating habit of coming up short, but Roy Keane’s imploring has adjusted attitudes among a new generation of Irish sports stars — sloppy seconds are no longer our style.

Ireland suffered another weekend of woe with famous victories up for grabs. But few are inclined towards an apologetic lexicon nowadays.

Eddie O’Sullivan’s rugby squad came tantalisingly close to a successful Parisian comeback, but still came up short through poor decision-making in the final moments of their 26-21 defeat to France.

“We should never have let that ball go dead at the end,” out-half Ronan O’Gara blasted. “It was a bad mistake. We had to keep hammering away because you are not going to score out wide in the last play of the game. We should have kept the ball in the forwards and stuck at it.”

In Auckland, Ireland’s hockey squad came tantalisingly close, though not close enough, to a place at the Beijing Olympics. Needing to beat higher-ranked Argentina by two clear goals, they defeated them 1-0 in the Olympic qualifying tournament. And to compound misery, they lost the third-place play-off 2-1, having led with six minutes left.

Not that Irish coach Dave Passmore was looking for sympathy. “I am not going to give you a hard luck story. We can blame other factors but we were in control of our own destiny and we didn’t control it,” he said. “We are still quite naive when it comes to tournament hockey.”

Golfer Damien McGrane led at the halfway stage of the Indian Masters in Delhi, and though he pocketed a handsome cheque for finishing second yesterday, he still missed a golden opportunity to claim victory.

After a bogey-birdie start to his back nine, McGrane saw his hopes of a maiden European tour title slip away with a bogey at his penultimate hole before a birdie at the last secured sole possession of the runners-up berth. “It’s been a difficult week. This was a real test of golf and it should have suited my game. I’ll make a few pounds so that’s good.”