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You are > Home > Let’s hail this sporting life
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Thursday, July 01, 2010
Let’s hail this sporting life
BY FINBARR SLATTERY
WE have almost reached the half time whistle on the two greatest sporting months of the year, June and July, and I must say that we missed Ireland’s participation in the World Cup.
What a thrill it would be to have a team in South Africa striving for glory. Anything can happen in the hurly burly of the various matches taking place.
The Republic of Ireland gave a Killarney father and son a very memorable trip to the World Cup in New York in 1994. At that time we had the unusual thrill and distinction of being the only country among the qualifiers taking part to beat Italy in the regulation 90 minutes. Italy eventually lost the final to Brazil after a dramatic penalty shootout.
Killarney solicitor Niall Brosnan in a profile in The Kingdom on June 1 records the occasion of the World Cup Finals in the USA as being his most memorable holiday while his son Eoin, in a similar profile in this newspaper on July 8, records Ireland v Italy in the Giants Stadium, New York, as being his favourite sporting moment.
What a great thrill it must be to see your country take on the world on foreign fields. Having said that, I must say that I cannot hold anything against France for getting to South Africa by beating us with a foul goal.
The referee didn’t see it and France qualified for the finals although they failed to reach the knockout stages.
Such things happen in sport as Diego Maradona showed the world with his famous "Hand of God" goal that helped Argentina beat England 2-0 in the World Cup in Mexico in 1986.
Maradona is now back again as manager of Argentina in this year’s World Cup finals. What a hero he will be if they win the tournament. In sport you have to take the rough with the smooth and there should be no ongoing bitterness.
In one of the opening game’s of the finals this year the England goalkeeper, Richard Green let the ball slip through his hands for the USA to score an agonising goal against England. The following day the Sunday Times memorably recalled what happened in its sports headlines headed: ‘Green Fingers’.
The sub-heading was more memorable. It read: "One disastrous spill the Yanks won’t complain about". Hard to beat that one!
We also had Royal Ascot in all its glory in mid-June and it was great to see Dermot Weld capturing the Gold Cup – the biggest race of the meeting, with 20/1 outsider, Rite of Passage. Johnny Murtagh nearly made it as the leading rider of the meeting. Ryan Moore, the champion jockey in the UK had to win the last race at the meeting to beat him. Both rode four winners but Moore was on more placed horses than Murtagh and won out.
Still on a sporting matter, the US Open Golf Championship, played in one of the most spectacular golf courses in the world, Pebble Beach in California, was won by an Irishman who becomes the first European to win the American Open for 40 years.
Graeme McDowell held his nerve to bring off a spectacular victory. He must be the hot favourite at this stage to be Ireland’s Sports Star of 2010 and he could well be selected as the BBC’s Star of the Year as well. It was a wonderful moment in sport to see Graeme being congratulated by his father after he sank the winning putt. That must be what dreams are made of.
The Wimbledon tennis championships are also underway and the event always supplies its quota of thrills. Even on day one we saw Roger Federer being beaten in the first two sets by an unknown who came within a match point of outright victory before Federer eventually won.
This year’s Wimbleton supplied the marathon of marathons with a first round match between John Isner (USA) and Nicolas Mahut (France) lasting over 11 hours. Both players held their nerve for an incredible 138 games in the decider before Isner eventually won 6-4, 36, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.
The Tour de France, the most demanding sports event in the world for those competing, starts on Sunday with Lance Armstrong striving for an unprecedented seventh win.
Here at home, Killarney Races, the first of the holiday meetings get underway on July 12 so be sure and visit the world’s most scenic race course and join in the fun. Two weeks later we have the Galway Races.
And on the day Killarney Races ends the Open Golf Championship gets underway at the Old Course in St Andrews, the place where it all began. And to conclude the month of July we have the Irish Open Golf Championship here in Killarney which gets underway on the third last day of the month to end the two greatest sporting months of the year in style right on our own doorstep.
Come and see Graeme McDowell after his great victory in the US Open, Padraig Harrington, three times a Major winner and the young star on the horizon, Rory McIlroy and many more who will be in action at Killarney Golf and Fishing Club from July 29 to August 1.
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