Our Government and NPHET are destroying morale of Irish people

Inside Track with John McIntyre – sports@ctribune.ie

IS this the most lily-livered Government in the history of our state? Jack Lynch, the legendary Cork GAA hero of the forties and a former Taoiseach, must be turning in his grave at the role his fellow county man, Micheál Martin, is playing in crushing the spirits and morale of a large cohort of the population.

In a sporting context, last Tuesday’s announcement of the tightening of restrictions in the ongoing battle against Covid-19 was the most depressing of the past five months. NPHET is now running the country as Martin and his cabinet colleagues continue to roll over like a lapdog. It’s both demoralising and embarrassing in equal measures.

Is the Government utterly immune to the positive role sport – either from playing or watching – has in Irish society? Everything in this country has been up in a heap since mid-March, but the resumption of GAA club activity in July proved a timely and massive lift to morale. It represented some form of normality and people were grateful for that.

Initially, there was a gathering limit of 200, embracing players, mentors and match officials, with indications that the figure would be increased as time elapsed. But not alone have those planned rises not materialised, now games must be held behind closed doors with no spectators at all.

The reaction up and down the country has unsurprisingly comprised of shock, anger and dismay. People are just scratching their heads at the madness of it all. The Government is losing the Irish people in droves. There is no logic whatsoever to this move, especially when you look at the inconsistencies of the restrictions.

Basically, what NPHET and the Government is telling us: It’s ok to go on a foreign holiday; it’s ok to go to a pub, have a bite to eat and guzzle pints; to continue working in meat factories; play sport but not watch it; and send the kids to school but not go to work. This is just crazy stuff.

We all have our own experiences to illustrate. I am managing my club Lorrha in Tipperary and last Saturday we won a second consecutive hurling championship match for the first time in a decade. We are now through to the county quarter-final and though it’s only Senior B, this a big deal for us.

My father is 88 and Club President. 64 years ago, he won a North Tipp championship with Lorrha and last Saturday he was in Cloughjordan to see the team managed by one of his sons, and including two of grandsons, get the better of a high-scoring shootout with Portroe. He was like a 40-year afterwards: proud as punch and full of joy.

It was the same emotion for so many other families in the parish. There was a lot more than 200 at the game. People were smuggled through the gates in the boots of cars; others sought and found gaps in perimeter fencing; some sneaked in when officials were distracted; a few climbed walls in their desperation to see the game.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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