Recent events involving Paddy Jackson and Conor McGregor have catapulted Irish sport onto the front pages for all of the wrong reasons, attracting divisive assumptions and assessments from many quarters, not before being associated with views on sporting matters. The Belfast rape case, in particular, was unsettling, depressing, dispiriting and jarred with the whole concept of what sport should be about.

So take a bow Davy Russell, what a star. His Grand National success last Saturday was a breath of fresh air and a timely reminder of the great joy so many Irish sporting heroes manage to achieve on a sporadic basis year after year. I don’t know him personally but observing from afar, he seems like a true gentleman. And he is a sportsman that’s the epitome of all childhood sporting dreams. The image of him gathering freshly cut grass his father had mown to build makeshift fences mimicking the Grand National course is a thing of beauty. Dedicating his win last Saturday to his fellow jockey Pat Smullen (my second cousin) a thing of class.

For many other fine sportspeople who have reached the pinnacle, there are similar tales of childhood dreams coming through on the international stage. But do we appreciate them enough? Have we turned into smug cynics? Are we losing the innocence of celebrating sporting accomplishment? Remember the street celebrations during Italia ’90? Has that magic left our psyche?

Over the course of five days last month, Irish trainers and jockeys wiped the boards at the Olympics of horse racing, Cheltenham. Rory McIlroy won the Arnold Palmer PGA tournament in Orlando and, of course, the Irish rugby team wrapped up the six nations grand slam on English turf. I know it sounds clichéd, but for such a small country competing with athletes partaking in our own two unique indigenous sports of hurling and Gaelic football, these international successes in three big global sports were almost taken for granted by the time Monday morning rolled around. Instead of hope, we now expect. Maybe it’s all the money that has numbed us into a state of cynicism.

But I do think another reason for our ambivalence is that in the current era of waiting lists and homelessness, it seems our sporting achievements are now measured in that context as if celebrating sport automatically attenuates the nation’s problems. It doesn’t nor it shouldn’t.

I probably need to get out more but I do get annoyed by the fact that it still seems hip to boast of a lack of interest in sport. For example, a radio panel discussing the week’s news might be asked about a sporting event and they’ll acquiesce in a way they wouldn’t about politics, the arts or other social issues. It’s as if we are afraid to celebrate sport for fear of being accused of deflecting from the real problems. I digress.

It should be remembered that Davy Russell won the Grand National at the 14th attempt. That should encourage us all in sport and life. He won it for owners that once sacked him. He is certainly what you would describe as a positive role model seeing that the responsibility of sportspeople as role models has been in the spotlight so much recently.

RTÉ has had problems finding a popular winner of the sports star of the year recently. It’s only April but there would be few quibbles if Davy scoops that accolade in eight months’ time. CL

Tillage farmers could grow silage instead

If tillage farmers are running out of time to sow various crops and with the three-crop rule parked for now, could they be incentivised by the Department of Agriculture along with co-ops to grow silage instead? Chances are it’ll definitely be needed next harvest.