One of the great risks for any elite Irish athlete is getting run over by Shane “Glory Hunter” Ross on their way to the finish line.
An Olympic Champion himself – Ross took the Long Distance Bandwagon Jump in Athens in 2004 – our Minister for Showing Up For the Cameras has made his obsession with throwing himself into the glory a national joke.
Take the cringe-fest at the Katie Taylor homecoming at Dublin Airport – our Minister looked like some sort of crazed stalker.
But sure enough, no sooner was he out in front at the Open that Shane was sprinting up to Portrush, to “show the support of the Irish people”.
It makes sense, Shane would have no idea the Irish public were behind him if Ross wasn’t there – he might have thought we were all watching the International Showjumping from Dubai (a real nail biter, in fairness).
“I think it is appropriate that I’m there, on behalf of everybody on the whole island of Ireland, I should say well done,” said Shane as he yelled at his limo driver to plough through anybody who got in his way.
Sure Shane, sure. It’s perfectly appropriate.
You can just imagine what everybody was saying as they watched Lowry yesterday: “Y’know, this is amazing – but what we really need is to see some grinning eejit of a minister jumping all over Lowry as he’s lining up his final putt”. There’s no point in calling him out on it, because Ross has a neck like a … well, you know.
You might think the classy thing to do would be to send a message of congratulations after the sportsperson has had their moment of glory, to take a step back and let them enjoy the adulation. You might think that – Ross clearly doesn’t.
To borrow a phrase from the late, great Brendan Grace as Fr Fintan Stack, when it comes to shoe-horning himself into the picture, Ross has had his fun, and that’s all that matters.
