THE LAST POINT: Bubbling under and over the surface

For all the ephemeral qualities that we bestow upon sports, from the mythical notion that sports somehow represents the very best of ourselves, communities and nations, there are times it feels as if we’re in a headlong and unedifying race to the bottom of the barrel when it comes to how we react to our heroes' endeavours in the sporting arena.

That’s a fairly blunt assessment, given I extol sport’s tendency to inspire us all to unimaginable feats of excellence - Kate O’Connor’s heptathlon silver in Tokyo, Irish rowers claiming two World titles on the water and Ben Healy winning a first medal for Ireland at Cycling's World Championships since 1989 make it an inspirational time for Irish sport, not to mention the incredible feats of our Paralympic athletes in New Delhi.

That’s without mentioning Shane Lowry’s clinching putt to ensure the Ryder Cup stayed in European hands at Bethpage, Lowry and Rory McIlroy upholding a rich Irish tradition of performing under the most intense pressure on the biggest stage of all. But it was the shenanigans off course in New York that left me disillusioned.

I’m the first to admit that I’m not a golf enthusiast - a good friend of mine, the late Peter O’Donnell, brought me out once to bang a few balls on the driving range at Carrick Golf Club and safe to say, there is no undiscovered talent there. I’ve tuned in a few times over the years when Tiger Woods was emerging onto the scene or whenever Rory, Shane and Padraig were on the cusp of a major win but it is not really my bag.

Maybe it is because I reckon if I did get into the game, I’d be addicted to it - my interactions with golfers leaves me wondering about their all-encompassing obsession with the game but we all have our obsessions! I’m the lad who stayed up late into the night, glued to the TV,  to watch almost every minute of not one, but two separate marathons at the Tokyo World Championships and I still  consider it time extremely well spent!

THE LAST POINT: MAXIMISING PROMISE FAR FROM EASY

I haven’t had a road to Damascus conversion to golf but the antics of the crowd in New York and the raw assault on good manners and simple civility at the Ryder Cup captured  my attention and left me wondering if sport is not the inspirational past-time I believe but rather an opportunity to rant, rave and abuse, almost an avatar for our innermost demons in the same way that ranting on social media is a snapshot into someone’s inner thoughts?

The vile insults hurled at the two Irish golfers and, bizarrely, McIlroy’s wife is, unfortunately, an aspect of spectating at sporting events, even juvenile ones, we've become inured to, the abuse   somehow justified by the notion that anything you can do as a spectator  to help your team is worth it in the end.

It’s why we have players on the field and mentors on the sideline and fans outside the fence spewing horrible so-called banter at opponents, players feigning injury or, and I won’t go into details, inflicting deliberate and gruesome acts on an opponent that would likely get you locked up if it happened on the street -  all with the express aim of gaining the mythical extra-inch that will guarantee victory.

Golf, to be fair, is a sport that respects tradition and gentility, enforcing its own honour code  but it seems that once spectators don the cloak of patriotism, those ideals fly out the window and anything goes it seems. The strange thing is that McIlroy and Lowry are, by all accounts, hugely popular in the US, their Irishness a selling point but with MAGA infecting the golf course, that very Irishness was weaponised against them by people who normally fawn over their every shot and putt.

This dichotomy has me wondering if, in this era of social media disconnect, that we’ve all become something of a cross between an elephant and a goldfish - the memory of an elephant means we never forget the alleged sins committed against us but, with a goldfish's supposed three-second memory, instantly forgetting our own transgressions?

Truth be told, I’d rather wax lyrical about the drama of the two Intermediate Quarter Finals I witnessed over the weekend, opine on the upcoming Senior Semi Finals or rave about some of the performances of the next generation of young footballers I witnessed in two U15 Finals. 

But we’re wading into dangerous territory now - I can’t count the amount of people who want to chat about the rights and wrongs of transfers while any talk of the U15 Finals might set off Mount Vesuvius such is the depth of feeling Naomh Eoin’s double success has aroused.

When you’re stopped in your tracks  to hear complaints about ‘super’ teams and amalgamations, take it as gospel that the topic has reached boiling point. It is a hot one but not new  - from Sheemore Gaels at Senior level in the 70s to underage combos like Fenagh Gortletteragh and Allen Gaels Fenagh, amalgamations stir up a depth of feeling that is unmatched.

Not for one second am I dismissing anybody's concerns but we need to start having genuine conversations on the subject because, and consider this carefully,  is there anything to prevent Mohill & Ballinamore joining forces at adult level or Glencar Manorhamilton and St Mary’s Kiltoghert doing likewise and laying waste to the Leitrim Senior Championship, maybe even taking a crack at winning a first ever Provincial club title?

That hypothetical, and highly improbable, scenario would be crossing the Rubicon I’d imagine because competitive fairness and integrity is an essential part of all sport, even if Gaelic games is an inherently unfair construct that pits counties and clubs with vastly unequal resources against each other based mainly on lines on a map. But if the primary aim of juvenile sport is provide a sporting outlet for young people, what are we to do if clubs simply don’t have the required numbers?

There are legitimate questions to be asked, particularly when clubs formerly fielded stand alone teams at younger age groups. That prompts troubling questions about the alarming drop out rates among young people playing sport, not just gaelic games. And I’ve suggested in the past that some structure or guidelines governing amalgamations be put in place to govern these scenarios in the coming years but that doesn’t mean we deny young people the chance to play Gaelic games because their club can’t field teams at the present time.

Truth be told, we’re only at the early stages of it but there is an out-of-control demographics train hurtling down the tracks in Leitrim - the numbers are alarming and should be a wake-up call for our entire county, not just in the sporting arena because many areas are facing a potentially catastrophic fall in population, with all its attendant consequences for schools, services and local life.

THE LAST POINT: CLUB PLAYERS' VOICE HAS TO BE HEARD

Equating events at the Ryder Cup with the controversies on playing fields of Leitrim is a stretch, I’ll admit, but the common thread is that there is an anger bubbling beneath the surface, boiling over intermittently, and unless action is taken to combat both the boorish antics of fans at sporting events and meet the needs and future concerns of the young people of Leitrim, things might get completely out of control.

To be honest, I had intended this column to reflect on a zany, madcap Intermediate Quarter Final  last Sunday, a game that saw Bornacoola spurn probably six goal chances in an almost ‘Brazil 82’ display of attacking football only to lose to an Italian like Dromahair, who rode their luck but came away with the victory. Darren Cox and Annaduff dazzled with their attacking play in the other quarter final while the Ladies are reaching the crescendo of their seasons. 

The young footballers from Rinn Gaels, Mac Cumhaills, Glencar Manorhamilton and, yes, Naomh Eoin produced heroics to warm the cockles of the heart last weekend but, no more than the behaviour off fans overshadowing Europe's Ryder Cup victory, much of what is happening on the fields of Leitrim is being overshadowed by off-field debates and that's a pity.

We're never going to stamp out boorish behaviour from fans watching games or indeed players and managers crossing a line on the field but I’d hate to think we’d lose officials or players to crazy and thoughtless   antics. The same applies if we avoid conversations about amalgamations and competition structures because we're entrenched in positions that won’t serve our needs into the future and we will still end up losing players!