Picture it now: It's St. Patrick's Day, you're in the pub with all your mates as Ireland are battering England at Twickenham. The drinks and craic are flowing, and you're debating what old haunt you will be hitting up later that night.
It seems like a lifetime ago, in more ways than one.
Ireland Six Nations victory over England in 2018 to secure the Grand Slam felt like the start of something. We were less than 18 months out from the World Cup and Ireland were without doubt the best team in the Northern Hemisphere.
There were real hopes this could be the team that ended our World Cup hoodoo. We all know how that worked out.
In truth, and it pains us to say this, but it looks as though Irish society may have peaked on that fateful day in 2018. To put it bluntly, the whole place has gone to shite ever since.
There have been a few exceptions to that. There was some further hope to Irish rugby supporters after the win over New Zealand that Autumn, while Shane Lowry's Open victory in the summer of 2019 was also a momentous occasion.
That aside, the last couple of years haven't been great. There are no shortage of examples.
Firstly, the pubs are now closed. We're just going to get that out of the way straight away. You can't even go there to drown your misery anymore, of which there has been an abundance of in a sporting context over the last 24 months.
The Rugby World Cup was an absolute disaster, with Ireland playing poorly in pretty much every game before exiting at the quarter-finals with a whimper once again. They have also had two brutal Six Nations campaigns.
Our international football team have hardly fared much better, scoring a grand total of one goal in eight fixtures in 2020. We can't even score from a set-piece anymore. Of course, out brightest young prospect in Declan Rice would also piss off to England.
Even closer to home, Gaelic football has essentially died as Dublin continue to cruise to All-Ireland after All-Ireland.
Sure we can't even go to a match anymore! And that's only the sport. The rest of things haven't been great either.
Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, the old rivals in Irish politics, have somehow found themselves in Government together to make up one of the most incompetent coalitions in the country's history. Their rise to power could hardly have come at a worse time considering all that is going on in the world at the moment.
Turns out we didn't bail out the banks after all pic.twitter.com/4fWk8kA0mW
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) December 16, 2020
Enough of the serious stuff, we want to know why a woman can't even bring her parrot to the local supermarket anymore? We are of course talking about Twink, who saw her pet parrot Timby banned from her local Supervalu as they don't allow animals in store.
In other animal related news, the country's heart was broken by the passing of President Michael D. Higgins' dog Síoda passed away last year. It was not the kick in the gut we needed at that stage.
Things have now gotten so bad, that Jedward have now become the morale compass for Irish society.
Even Fungie has had enough and decided to abandon these shores.
We haven't beaten England since then, but maybe a win in tomorrow's game could reverse the curse and get us back on track? We can only hope...
SEE ALSO: The 'England 2011 Grand Slam Champions' PR Debacle - 10 Years On
