It was a ‘dismal’ sight, cried the Irish Times. It was ‘beyond distressing’. It was ‘enough to curdle many a pint of stout’. ‘The shamrock bowl lies wilting’, the paper wailed, like one of those be-shawled auld women who once stalked the lanes of Ireland issuing dark prophecies to all and sundry. What has happened to stir up such fright and foreboding at Ireland’s newspaper of record? Have the Brits returned? Is a new potato blight afoot? Are the Magdalene laundries reopening? Nope – Conor McGregor went to the White House.
