OPINION: Sporting success lifted nation's spirits during Covid

THROUGHOUT recent history sporting success by Irish sportsmen and women on the international stage has provided a much needed boost to the morale of the nation in times of crisis.

Those of us of a certain age remember the European soccer finals in Stuttgart in 1988 and the soccer World Cup in 1990, periods in which the country was engulfed in a mass euphoria.

In fact some academics and commentators credit these tournaments with providing the boost to our collective national consciousness which led to the economic boom of the mid 1990s.

Success at the Olympics in the past has also lifted the nation's spirits.

Athletes such as Ronnie Delany, Michael Carruth and Katie Taylor are household names in this country thanks to their gold medal winning achievements at various times in the past.

So too has it proven with the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo, held a year later than they should have been due to the Covid pandemic.

Kellie Harrington's gold medal winning performance in the boxing in the early hours of Sunday morning, Irish time, was the icing on the cake.

Gold medals were also captured by rowers Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy from Skibbereen in Co. Cork.

Bronze medals were won by Belfast boxer, Aidan Walsh in the welterweight category and rowers Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty in the women's four competition.

Congratulations must be extended to our medal winners and indeed all those athletes who represented the island in the Olympics.

In fact, Ireland could have achieved a greater tally of medals if luck had been on the country's side in a variety of competitions.

However, our overall medal tally of four medals compares unfavourably with nations of a similar size – for instance Denmark garnered a total of 11 medals while New Zealand left the Japanese capital with an impressive tally of 20 medals, including seven gold.

They key to such success seems to lie in the funding these countries have pumped into sports over a prolonged period.

As such it is imperative that more finance be provided to Ireland's Olympics athletes in the coming decades if greater success is to be achieved.

Sport Ireland has set ambitious targets for the next two Olympics and believes that Ireland can double its medal tally and win across four different sports.

But these plans will only come to fruition if increased funding is provided by central Government.

While obviously allocating extra money will not win medals in itself it certainly will fund the structures needed to ensure our athletes perform to the top of their ability.

Meanwhile, at a more local level the success of Offaly's U-20 footballers in reaching next weekend's All-Ireland final has also provided a major lift to the people of the Faithful county.

With the postponement of the Tyrone versus Kerry All-Ireland football semi-final it means that virtually everyone who wishes to attend the game against Roscommon next Sunday can do so.

The success of our Olympic athletes and the Offaly U-20 footballers convincingly shows how important sport is to the fabric of society and the national mood.

No doubt the success of our boxers and rowers at the Olympics will lead to an upsurge in interest in both sports.

Katie Taylor's success in the 2012 Olympics in London resulted in a major boost for women's boxing and played its part in our success at the Tokyo games.

Hopefully the results achieved in the 2020 Olympics will lay the foundations for success in the games in Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles in 2028.

As such the Government must now ensure that the necessary finance is put in place to ensure the ambitious targets set by Sport Ireland can be achieved.