I have said it before. And without any doubt whatsoever, I will say it many times again. Ireland has supplied, and still is supplying, a bountiful crop of extremely talented individuals that is absurdly disproportionate to her size and population.
Sport is in many ways the heartbeat of a nation. Sport also offers an immediate reflection of the personality of a nation. While other important reflections of a society can be found for example, in its literature, architecture and other forms of the arts, the truth is that these usually require experience, thoughtful contemplation and quite serious discussion.
It is not easy to contextualise art simply because art is capable of being all things to all people. But sport possesses a simplicity at its very core. The greater the skill the more simple it appears. This is perhaps the most fundamental attraction of sport.
When you survey a painting, or attend a ballet, or gasp as a tenor hits the high notes that you know immediately there is no way in the wide world you could emulate. But seeing Ronan O'Gara stick a ball on a sixpence from 80 yards or following a body swerve from Keith Fahey and having to scramble back into your seat produces ambition in the hearts of many who will attempt to follow the lead set by a country's sports stars.
The impressive mental strength of Padraig Harrington, the scoring exploits of Colm Cooper and the sublime skills of Damien Duff have generated desire and belief in many young hearts, and even more striking is the fact that the skills and talents of the very best are accepted as achievable by so many. Consequently, ambitions are fostered and imaginations extended.
This is especially true in Ireland, where there is no lack of imagination in the young. This is perhaps one of the reasons for the enormous amount of natural talent that exists for all sports in our country. Indeed, this could quite probably be the essential reason for the quite prodigious success that extends far beyond the borders of this small island.
Imagination and ambition are not often recognised as talents, but I believe these are two of the most desirable abilities any youngster could possess. But good as these role models are for the young people of Ireland, there is much more good news generated by sport.
There has always been a wonderful sense of community in Ireland, and elsewhere for that matter. Indeed, the whole history of the human race, until today, has been the history of community. But community is now disappearing and disappearing when its sustaining strength is badly needed. At one time, the values of nature and community found their sustenance in friendly neighbourhoods, small towns and rural areas.
But these special locations are being replaced by a bigger and more impersonal world, one in which concrete, technology and motor cars rule the roost and dictate the tempo of life. This detachment from community forces us into a world where we are in serious danger of becoming both perpetrators and victims of coldness and cruelty.
The disintegration of community is a very definite happening and thus is a threat to life as we have known it. Consequently, any and every method that realigns any of us, and especially the young, to the intrinsic values of belonging to a family or a community is something that must be explored and instigated in every possible way.
While I was living in Cork, the magnificent success of Munster rugby displayed unambiguously the quite startling effect of sport on society. The coming together of so many hearts and minds in one common adventure across the whole country - and especially so in the South at that time, showed just how much we desire to belong to something good and wholesome.
In spite of our recent elevation to one of the highest standards of living in Europe, nobody can state unequivocally that we are a contented country. Without a shadow of doubt we are more comfortable and more independent than ever before in the history of the state. But something is wrong.
Wherever the great victories are recorded, be it in Cardiff, Dublin, Cork or Stuttgart, our sports stars regularly ensure Ireland punches above its weight. But the greatest prize attained by Irish performers, whether within or without the borders of Ireland, is not the trophies held high nor the accolades received by the performers. No, it is the togetherness engendered by sport that firmly grips the imagination of the country and binds us together as a community for the duration of the contest, its celebrations and as long as its memories last.
Luckily, we have good and long memories here in Ireland. We remember our heroes and the agreeable sense of community they generate.
