The greater good of our nation depends on us all

THESE are extraordinary times. Life as we know it here in Ireland has changed dramatically during the space of the last week.

The sudden arrival of this dreaded coronavirus to our shores has impacted us all and will do so even further in the weeks and months ahead.

There is no vaccine, none of us are immune and there is no silver bullet. What we do have, however, is our individual and collective behaviours. We have no choice but to accept all the necessary restrictions placed on our daily lives, with the hope that their rigid implementation will slow the spread of the virus.

As the country moves ever closer to a state of complete lockdown we must all work together responsibly to ensure we do our bit to protect ourselves, our families and the communities around us.

We are in uncharted waters. This unfamiliar territory demands significant collective changes in how we behave. How we act will save lives.

Try to filter out some of the needless and non-stop coronavirus social media cycle. Much of it is unhelpful. Our words and actions can fuel the anxiety and panic. We all need to stay informed from official sources and avoid speculation, rumour or scaremongering.

In last week’s column I referenced the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak and how it caused a three-month shutdown of sporting life in County Louth.

The Irish Government introduced a major security operation and a raft of preventative measures to help contain the spread of the disease. These strict guidelines and restrictions on movement worked well in containing the spread, but outside of sport and agriculture life went ahead pretty much as normal. Everyone adhered to the sporting restrictions for a certain period of time, but I’ve a vague recollection of some clandestine early morning/late night Louth training sessions to circumvent the rules.

Division 1 football had been hard-earned the previous season, therefore the players took it upon themselves to arrange secret gatherings to help preserve our top-flight league status.

This, however, is totally different. Back in 2001 the threat was mainly to farming and livestock. There was little or no threat to human life. What we’re dealing with now is about saving the lives of our family, friends and neighbours. The greater good of our nation is dependent on us all.

The sporting world has come to a halt. Everything across the board has been cancelled. I’ve a good mind to cancel my Sky Sports subscription as there’s only so many times you can watch the re-run of Gary Neville’s Soccerbox or last season’s English Championship play-offs.

The cabin-fever did, however, attract me to Sunday’s TG4 All-Ireland Gold programme where Galway beat Mayo in the first round of the 1998 Connacht

Championship.

The game of 22 years ago bore no comparison to the modern-day game of calculated possession football. Some of the play was pretty poor, but there was some really decent, exciting passages of football and individual skills on display.

Galway, who went on to claim that year’s Sam Maguire, their first since 1966, had Sean Og de Paor marauding from half back, Kevin Walshe’s high fielding, the dash and unpredictability of Michael Donnellan, Ja Fallon’s jinking sidestep and the playmaking skills of Padraig Joyce.

Mayo, who’d lost the previous two All-Ireland finals, were still dependent on the likes of Liam McHale, James Nallen, current manager James Horan and the silky skills of Ciaran McDonald.

If you weren’t fit to win your own ball back then in 50/50 challenges, then you were nowhere.

The next All-Ireland Gold instalment on TG4 is the 1977 Dublin/Armagh final at 4pm today (Tuesday). Well worth a look if only for Jimmy Keavney’s 2-6.

And finally, does all these postponements mean that Liverpool, who are 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League, will not be crowned champions for the first time since 1990? Will Celtic, who are 13 points clear in Scotland, not complete their record-equalling ninth title in a row?

And will Louth remain in Division 3 instead of dropping to the dreaded bottom tier? All questions for another day.