Irish Smiles

This year continues to be a fantastic one for Irish sport in general. The international football team is looking somewhat capable of a decent go for World Cup qualification and in rugby, our Grand Slam triumph in the Six Nations has also being joined by Leinster making the Heineken Cup final, after coming through an all Irish semi-final.

Irish motorsport has also enjoyed what can only be described as its best year ever. Not since the days of Jordan Grand Prix have we had much to celebrate here. (And for those boffins not in the know, while Jordan was based in the UK, it ran under the Irish flag – hence the reason Amhrán na bhFiann was played when the stewards didn’t cock up the ceremony.

The year started with the Irish Rally as the opening round for the World Rally Championship. Granted, it doesn’t feel like the WRC has the same sort of lure as it used to, but it was a fantastic achievement nonetheless in the days where everyone is starting races anywhere except in Europe.

The icing on the cake came this weekend, with Adam Carroll winning the fourth A1GP series for Team Ireland. The victory is the first time an Irish national has taken an international motorsport title. Carroll took it in dominating fashion, with pole position and race victory in both the Sprint and the Feature.

It is a fantastic achievement that will hopefully put more emphasis on motorsport back in this country. Currently, it has handled very poorly and even when Formula One as shown on terrestrial television, the commentary was down there in the basement alongside that of James Allen.