Sport for Business’ Coverage of Euro 2016 is supported by Official Tournament and FAI Partner Continental Tyres
This was something special. Sure it might all have felt a little flat if Wes Hoolahan’s pass had been six inches higher, if Robbie Brady’s shoulders had dropped and he’d not made that 70 metre run, or if the Republic of Ireland had exited France with a goalless whimper last night.
But you know what, this Ireland team stood up like the legends they have now instantly become. Ron ie Whelan said before the match that there was a space for somebody on that pitch to score the goal and to claim a spot standing pitch side in 25 years time and still reliving it for an expectant public. He was right.
FAI CEO John Delaney always maintained that there was nothing to match the power to get the nation excited than a successful Irish soccer team. When that was only a memory the words may have fallen on stoney ears but last night, north and south of the border, football brought people together, it created a sense of hope and genuine joy.
Those moments happen in our personal lives at personal times. The birth of a child – congratulations Enda Lynch of Munster Rugby who enjoyed that yesterday – the smile of a son’s or daughters achievement, the triumph of a result that demanded hard work but was celebrated perhaps only be you and your closest colleagues.
Of course those things are more important than the result of a single game in sport but you know life is not measured by the breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away.
Thank you Robbie Brady, thank you FAI, thank you RTÉ. Roll on Sunday.
RTÉ have excelled themselves with their promotional videos for the Euro’s and this was a powerful 90 seconds linking the glories of the past to the new ones we asked the lads to write last night…
Sport for Business’ Coverage of Euro 2016 is supported by Official Tournament and FAI Partner Continental Tyres
