Why is it that the green and gold Kingdom jersey means something, possesses a quality of magic like the Brazil soccer shirt, the baseball uniform of the New York Yankees, the All Black rugby rig-out?

History has a lot to do with it, of course, the accretion of accumulated success giving the colours a subliminal association with victory. But there are teams who don't combine success with charisma, whose wins attract only begrudgery. Maybe it's to do with a quality of joy still evident in teams from the county, a recognition of the fact that football is, above all else, a game, something to enjoy, something which entertains people, not some grim war game replete with Calvinistic virtues of self-sacrifice and abnegation.

You can tell that Mike Frank Russell enjoys his football, that John Crowley does and that Seamus Moynihan does. And that feel for the joyous side of the game is also markedly present in Dara O Cinneide. ...