Just what is a 'Moral Victory?'

Ireland concede right at the death

Winning is everything, second is nowhere and a draw is like kissing your sister.  Am I right, maybe, maybe not.  What I do know is that nobody does 'Moral Victories' better than us Irish and I think we as a country should be proud of that.  Sure, through the annals of Irish sporting history there have been moments of glory to be treasured like Ron Delaneys gold medal at the Melbourne Olympics in 1952, Michelle Smiths three gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics of 1996 and more recently Irleands Grand Slam success in the 2009 Six Nations Championship. 

What about the near misses and heartbreaking last minute losses, these are what we can draw heart from, they are the times when you know you were unlucky but still shout on from the sidelines as if you just witnessed the greatest sporting moment of your life.  Just like the time when 200,000 people lined the streets of Dublin to welcome home 'Jacks Army' from Italia '90.  We didn't even win a game but somehow made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup.

You know that old 'you're bigger than us but we gave you quite the fright' attitude, that's what the 'Moral Victory' is based upon.  Believe me growing up Irish there have been a lot of those moments around and I think it's about time we celebrated those 'near misses' and 'close but no cigar moments'.  These are the moments from Irish Sporting history that I will try and bring to you on a weekly basis, if I can find the time of course