Following the seismic atrocities that took place in France several figures in the sporting world rationalised that sport seems trivial in comparison. The Sunday panel discussed if such distinctions need to be made at all.
Sunday Independent journalist Declan Lynch said:
'Any intelligent person will have no problem in making the distinction between sport and everything else that happens. I don't think you have to explain it to them.'
Editor of The 42.ie Adrian Russell echoed Lynch's words and pointed to a front page piece from the Sunday Independent written by Eamonn Sweeney.
'Sport feels a bit beside the point really nails how we feel (about the Paris attacks) but then we turn the page and we move on. We know it's beside the point but sport is still important to us in the context of our lives.'
One of images of Paris attacks will be France LB Patrice Evra looking toward sound of SdF suicide bomb as he passed. https://t.co/UUiL2LaM5a
— Paul Kennedy (@pkedit) November 14, 2015
In keeping with the theme of the bombings and shootings in France, Lynch also identified a piece written by Sunday Independent sports editor John Greene, who was in Disney land as news of the frightening events began filtering through. Russell then remarked on those who have added a French Flag themed filter to their Facebook page as an act of solidarity for those who have been victimised by the attacks. He reverted back to Eamonn Sweeney's front page piece.
'It's something that can't be washed away by a hashtag.'
From there, the panelists turned their attentions to Ireland's second leg of the play-off which comes just 72 hours after playing out a 1-1 draw against and Herzegovina on a foggy evening in Zenica.
Republic of Ireland v Bosnia tomorrow night - we've added our best bets 5/1 scorer & more: https://t.co/ixsYkqfnLj pic.twitter.com/iL5glC84Kn
— Football Tips (@footballtips) November 15, 2015
Declan Lynch explained how Ireland is being perceived as the team with the favourites tag and underlined the discomfort with which we sit with that. Again, a piece written by Eamonn Sweeney in the Sunday Independent was used to articulate his point,.
'Eamonn Sweeney captures the mood perfectly when he says that if we don't progress tomorrow, it will be a sporting catastrophe. We're sort of fancied and have a reason to believe we can do well. If we fail in these situations, it is a catastrophe.'
Commenting on the bleak affair which unfolded in the first leg, Russell added that the eventual winner is unlikely to 'light it up in France,' and also spoke about how he enjoyed reading Stephen Hunt's piece in the Sunday Independent about his experience of dealing with the wait between the two legs of a play-off.
'Knowing his personality from the outside, boredom is something that he deals with a lot. He found the follow-up between games and the hanging around a bit tough.'
The discussion was concluded with a brief review of the recently deceased jockey Pat Eddery. Presenter Joe Molloy picked out an article by Eamonn Sweeney in which the journalist identifies Eddery as 'the most underrated Irish sports star.'
Declan Lynch responded:
'That's absolutely true and Bruff Scott writes about him in the Sunday Times. He's more or less saying that we was the best of them all which is quite a statement.'
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