Hopes dashed on all fronts

AFTER beating the Springboks on their home patch for the first time ever and then pummelling the Swedes in the opening half in Paris, all of Ireland went into last weekend with expectations sky high.

Mid-week felt a little like it did during Italia 90, with tricolours and bunting flying from all vantage points and everyone kitted out in their green and gold (how did we ever manage without all those cheap knick-knacks from the pound shops or discount stores?).

In last week’s column I touched on how it would be marvellous for a new generation to get a taste of what us 40-somethings experienced during the World Cup over a quarter of a century ago.

All week nostalgia was back in vogue, with old retro jerseys and memorabilia evident wherever you looked. There were even reruns on the box during the week of Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Van’ and ‘The Snapper’ to get us in the mood and I noticed more than one t-shirt telling Toto Schillaci where to get off.

There was hardly a sausage or burger left in the supermarkets, never mind a bottle of beer, as half the country planned house parties and BBQs for Saturday lunchtime. The other half, as far as I could make out anyway, had already left for Bordeaux.

Blind optimism, along with several TV pundits, had convinced us that this Belgium side were not as good as they were made out to be. We ignored their star players and world ranking in favour of our own battling qualities and team spirit. We could definitely role these guys over. They lacked heart and there was obvious signs of in-fighting within the camp.

Some lads were even checking the wall charts for locations of the knockout fixtures to steal a march on the airlines with cheap early flights. Expectations built to a crescendo as the country went into lockdown as 2pm approached.

The first hints of doubt began just after the anthems as the six foot plus Belgians walked past our lads to shake hands. There were bloody massive and towered over us like men against boys.

To our credit we started well and held the world number two ranked side at bay reasonably comfortably until half-time. However, worryingly, we didn’t create one single chance in the opening 45 minutes and spent the entire half with all men to the rearguard pumps.

Our lack of quality was then ruthlessly exposed by first Lukaku and then Witsel as we fell two goals behind within the opening minutes of the second half. James McCarthy should have done better for both goals, but I thought Dunphy and co went a little over the top on him in the post-match analysis.

The third goal was sort of inevitable and I feared the worst when Robbie Keane stripped off to enter the fray with 15 minutes to go. I can only assume Martin O Neill knew the game was gone at that stage and sought to rest Shane Long and Wes Hoolahan for the Italian match.

The cool, crisp beers and succulent, mouth-watering food of earlier suddenly tasted quite off as the mood among the natives worsened. Optimism and pessimism can often be very close neighbours and it doesn’t always take spilled beer to go from a glass half-full to one that’s half-empty.

Okay, it was a brave performance in the opening stages, but we were second best and the worry is that the Italians made these guys look very ordinary a few days earlier.

Still, we’re not without hope as the green army moves the mammoth 800km north to Lille. The Irish fans yet again have been absolutely amazing, with good-humoured deeds and stories all over the media.

Italian boss and new Chelsea manager Antonio Conte will without question rest some of his firstchoice eleven who are on yellow cards and suffering knocks, but will Italy’s second string be any worse than those they’re replacing or be any less motivated?

The negativity of Saturday will soon wear off, to be replaced by more blind optimism for Wednesday - but are we codding ourselves? Can we really repeat another dose of USA 1994 and the Giants Stadium? Of course we can. Let me hear you sing …. ‘Shane Long’s on fire’…. Amid the post-match gloom of Saturday afternoon, news filtered through that at least we were going to win the Test series South Africa.

Joe Schmidt’s men led the home side by 16 points at the break and looked destined for a historic victory. Louth were also ahead at half-time above in Derry, so maybe it wasn’t going to be a bad day after all.

However, as I checked my phone for an update on the Qualifiers I received the double whammy that both Ireland and Louth were beaten. The lead balloon was now well and truly deflated as the party patrons headed for the exits. There’d be no dancing on the streets this evening. in With so much happening on the Saturday, I’d hardly bothered with the golf, but I was aware that Shane Lowry was going well at Oakmount. The Offaly man has been in contention at this stage several times before, only to fall away as the weekend approached, but his two birdies on Sunday morning at the end of his delayed third round suddenly propelled him into a four-shot lead. This was more like it.

With Lowry’s final round starting later that evening at 8 o’clock I headed off to the Stephen Me- lia Sevens in Dromiskin with a renewed pep in my step. The weather unfortunately was most unkind to this inaugural running of Stephen’s tournament, with relentless rain throughout almost the entire day. However, there was a brief break in the weather for the semi-finals and final as Dreadnots beat Roche in a high-scoring decider.

Some of Stephen’s former colleagues with Louth, John Mitchel’s and St Joseph’s lined out in a veterans game prior to the final which was very enjoyable for all who participated. However. the aches and pains the following morning had me questioning the wisdom of taking part.

After a cup of tea and another burger it was straight home for the golf ….. and unfortunately more disappointment. Shane Lowry couldn’t repeat the magic of the previous rounds as he struggled with his game to lose to first-time major winner Dustin Johnson by three … or was it four shots.

It’s difficult to know how the whole penalty shot fiasco affected the Clara man, but it was a ludicrous situation that was allowed develop.

Lowry says he’ll be back and with his talent it’s hard not to believe him.