Why is there ever a debate about who was the best Irish Sports person ever? *READ OP*

Mysterypunter wrote: »

Ireland never got past the last 8 in a world cup, so rugby players can't be considered, its the world stage, not beating France and England at home, and Wales and Scotland away. To win the 5 nations, (everyone beats Italy). Why is the Clones Cyclone not mentioned at all, Barry McGuigan won 27 straight fights in a tough division, and only got chinned because of the greed of his promoter Barney Eastwood who wanted to make a few quid, and sent him out to fight in very high temperatures against Steve Cruz in Vegas. Northern bias again maybe. Sean Drea would be my pick, a high class rower who was second in the world champions, in 1975, broke the world record in the Olympic semi final the following year, but unfortunately only managed 4th in the final. He spent a lot of his career rowing against Russians, who cheated a bit, and notorious East Germany who cheated a lot, where even the women had beards.

Here is my original post

Mysterypunter wrote: »

He won the Henley single sculls 3 years succession 1973-75, silver in the world championship in England, 1975, broke the world record in the Olympic semi final in Montreal, and unlucky 4th in the final. Pretty good overall

I'm not saying he was no good, but, if I was picking a rower, I'd pick Paul O'Donovan.
4 World Championship Gold beats 3 x Henleys and 1 Worlds Silver and then he has the Olympic Silver also.

Sean broke the world record at 2000M with a 6.52.46, Paul went 4 seconds faster.

Mysterypunter wrote: »

One thing I would say is that physically demanding sports should earn extra merit, I wouldn't be picking anyone who played darts or snooker. Rowing, especially at crunch time is technically and physically tough, whereas some sports don't require much physical effort, but probably as much skill.

This is definitely a debate in and of itself. Some could argue that darts players and snooker players compete in a more challenging environment because Mental pressures can be greater when you are competing at one moment on your own, they can't use physical strength to push through while practically keeping their eyes shut to drown out distractions.

It could be argued that rowing is mostly just about muscle memory and fitness but that the core skill is less obvious than hitting a triple 20 3 times in a row.

Or, look at field sports, such as hurling. Balancing a ball on a stick, striking it while on the run at a target all require skill, but that sport also requires significant physical strength, and maybe more athleticism than say rowing (I'm saying maybe here, I'm not suggesting rowers aren't athletic at all), but their environment is quite static while competing when compared to other sports.