The Republic of Ireland’s exit from the World Cup today is hard to take, but sport is a mix of winning and losing, and in many ways, in these very moments, it’s why it’s so important.
Life is all about enjoying the good times and getting through the bad ones. In real life, those bad ones can be much worse than the loss of a game, and just like in sport, you best prepare yourself to be resilient by going through the setbacks.
Sport helps us understand that not everything can go our way, and if one parent can explain that to one child whose tears are smudging their face paint today then that will be another tiny element of the legacy this team has created by getting this far in the manner they have.
Children in the modern era have a lot done to ensure they sail through. It’s natural that you never want to see them have to encounter something that could be avoided but taking that to a conclusion would deprive them of everything but the most artificial of emotions.
The excitement and anticipation of this World Cup has been like most young fans have never experienced.
Following the team as winners of a place at the top table was never supposed to end in two defeats and being the third country to be eliminated after Costa Rica and Zambia.
At least we had the goal, the moment of wild joy and celebration from Katie McCabe’s outrageous goal direct from a corner in the fourth minute. But then again as adults it’s the hope that sets up the greatest pain in the end.
Sport gives us the energy to pick up and go again. In the team’s case that will be a game against Nigeria on Monday. Let’s hope the energy of the watch parties will remain.
Let’s also hope that they will still have wanted to run straight out into their garden or across to the local park and run, shoot, chat and laugh about the best bits.
Because that is also what sport gives us. The sociability of a shared experience and the chance to talk in detail and with passion about stuff which for the most part we are only guessing at.
Roy Keane would hate the thought that this was anything other than a failure and in the hard edged calculus of elite sport, it is. But we should also be able to put that in a box and look beyond the result, to the hope of better days ahead, to Nigeria on Monday, to Northern Ireland in the Aviva in September, to the Euro’s in Switzerland in 2025, much easier to get to, and to the next World Cup, the venue for which will be announced next May 17th.
We can look forward to going to games in our domestic League and cheering on the stars we have come to know in the WSL and the Champions’ League.
Today is the end of the dream of making it out of the group, but every end is just the beginning of something else.
