University Volume 24 | Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020
Express UCCExpress.ie
#RefundTheRent Students Demand Rent Refund For Covid-19 Period Writes Maeve O’Sullivan, Deputy News Editor Following the closure of UCC on March 12th due to the Covid-19 pandemic, UCC students have been faced with difficult decisions. Many of the UCC students who were renting accommodation near the college have opted to return to their native homes for their physical and mental wellbeing, including large numbers of international students. However, certain landlords have been refusing to terminate the contracts early despite the unusual epidemic. One particular private student accommodation unit, Amnis House of the Uninest Group, has refused to refund the students who had chosen to return home. Students and their families have spoken out against the ‘lack of compassion’ that the management have shown.
due to the virus outbreak and Government-issued lockdown laws. USI Vice President for Welfare, Roisin O’Donovan, stated the union is calling on those compaDespite the signed lease connies- such as ISA Accommodatracts, UCC owned student ac- The Students’ Union of UL ex- tion Dublin, Uninest, Aparto and commodation complexes Victoria pressed their upset at the situa- Athlone Student Rooms- to show UCC Student Union president, Lodge, Victoria Mills, University tion; ‘’The University of Limer- compassion to students who are Ben Dunlea, spoke out against the Hall, Castlewhite Apartments, ick must show a duty of care to in very difficult circumstances. “unfair and upsetting’’ situation and Mardyke Hall have contact- its students during the Covid19 She also referred to the fact that the students have been exposed to. ed their tenants announcing that pandemic. Refunding students many students have lost part ‘’Some students, it must be rethey will have the two months for their unused accommodation time jobs due to the pandemic. membered, have gone home to rent refunded in a request that would take a significant financial Certain accommodations have support or care for vulnerable they return home on the grounds burden off students this year.’’ stated they will refund the monparents,’’ the SU President said. of safety. However, it was em- It is believed that of the 2,850 cam- ey to a student if they can find phasised that if a student could pus beds, only 700 students remain. someone else to fill it, which is One parent of a child who had unlikely due to the nature of not return home for any reason, signed the contract for the they would not be forced to leave. The Student’s Union of Ireland the colleges and the lockdown. €9000-a-year room was denied The petition can be found on (USI), in association with Stutheir request, with representatives The University of Limerick also dents‘ Union leaders across the from Amnis House stating: ‘’We of has been criticised for their refus- country, launched a petition for https://action.uplift.ie/camcourse have had a lot of students al to refund students who left the purpose-built student accommo- paigns/student-accommodadecide to return to their family UL accommodation due to fears dation to refund students who tion-covid. homes, but as it was their own defor health and safety. While man- cannot occupy their rented rooms cision, a refund is not applicable.
What does Covid-19 mean for the Economy?
Page 3 News
As the building is still operating as normal, the room will legally be under the student’s name until the signed contract expires.’’
agement claimed that deposits paid at the beginning of the year will be returned in full, the twomonth remaining rent is to be held by the college for the time being.
Communicating With Friends in Lockdown
The Resilience of Esports in a Crisis
Page 8 Features
Page 18 Byline
UCC: A Year In Sport
Page 23 Sport
Editorial
2
The End of The Beginning
Editorial Team
Writes Ciaran Dineen, Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief – Ciaran Dineen
It’s hard to believe that this is the last time I will be putting words on a page as part of my editorial during my time with the Express as Editor-In-Chief, but I have to say from the outset what an incredible experience it has been for me, something that I will always cherish.
(Editor@UCCExpress.ie) News Editor – Samantha Calthrop (News@UCCExpress.ie)
It can be difficult to those who aren’t accustomed to reading papers to fully comprehend the pride and satisfaction that seeing your name under a heading can mean, and while I’m nearing my seventh year in the game, I still have that Christmas morning buzz every time I’m able to put my name to something. Having pride in your work and the way in which you conduct yourself is essential to leading a successful and prosperous life and if I have learned anything from my tenure it is to acknowledge your very best moments and seek to carry them forward as you embark on your next venture.
Designer – Fiona Cremins (Design@UCCExpress.ie) Features Editor – Róisin O’Donnell (Features@UCCExpress.ie) Sports Editor – Jack Maguire (Sport@UCCExpress.ie) Opinion Editor – Elisha Carey (Opinion@UCCExpress.ie) Online Editor – Edel Lonergan (Online@UCCExpress.ie) Proof Editor - Chloe Jesse (Proofing@uccexpress.ie) Marketing Executive – Ciaran Dineen (Marketing@UCCExpress.ie) Webmaster – Jonathan Hanley (Webmaster@UCCExpress.ie) Photographers – Caoimhe Leahy (Photographers@uccexpress.ie)
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
While scripts have had better endings, the challenges that the Express and I have faced in light of COVID offers a great insight into the spirit and teamwork that I had so hoped to foster when I entered the job last Summer. I have always said that there are far more talented writers than me in the Express and I’m glad to have been proven right on so many occasions this year with some of the incredible content that has been published in the paper. To regurgitate a classic cliché, there is no ‘I’ in team and it’s safe to say that every member of this year’s Express team have all brought something to the table. Undoubtedly my proudest achievement this year has been to promote and support the most important fights for future UCC students, while also taking particular pleasure in seeing the progress of so many of this year’s writers and staff, many of whom would never have had the confidence to pen their name to something previously. I want to pay tribute to each and everyone of the Express family, especially those closest to me. Fiona and Cian have been brilliant to work with this year and their commitment to the cause has always been second to none. They will forever be down on the wedding invitation list. Finally to the readers. I can’t thank you enough for the support that you have given us this year. You are the reason why we do what we do and it has been an honour to play a very small part in your college experience. Alas that is it. I wish you all well during these uncertain times and if I may use a quote from a controversial figure that may describe my own departure and the greater context that now surrounds us, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” For the final time, happy reading. Take Care, Ciaran.
editor@uccexpress.ie
Byline Editor – Cian McGrath (Byline@UCCExpress.ie) (Deputy Editor) Eagarthóir Gaeilge – Hugh Ó Raghallaigh Mac Gearailt (Gaeilge@UCCExpress.ie) Food & Health - Katie Kelly (Food@UCCExpress.ie) Arts & Literature Editor – Fiona Keely (Arts@UCCExpress.ie) Gaming Editor – Jack Coleman (Gaming @UCCExpress.ie) Music Editor – Fiona O’Connell (Music@UCCExpress.ie) Film & Television Editor – Eoghan Creedon (Screen@UCCExpress.ie) Sexpress Editor – Caoimhe Battault (Sexpress@uccexpress.ie) Fashion Editor - Katie Burke (Fashion@UCCExpress.ie) Deputy Sports - Sam Curtin (Deputysports@uccexpress.ie) Deputy News Maeve O’Sullivan (Deputynews@uccexpress.ie) Deputy Features - Molly O’Rourke (Deputyfeatures@uccexpress.ie)
Pen, sword
by Samantha Calthrop, News Editor First of all: Congratulations on making it through the last two weeks. I know it’s been crazy. I don’t even know you and I still know that if you made it so far as to locate and read the Express, you’re doing great, so good job. Second of all: This is my last editorial to you as the News Editor. It’s likely my last editorial to you as a member of the University Express, too. Now that I’m done with UCC, the question of what happens next is more pressing than ever in this day and age. We’re living through history and trying to pick a future. Isn’t it crazy? I’ve been doing my best to be factual, informative, and unbiased. (You can be the judge of how well I’ve done there.) If there’s anything I believe in this world, it’s that the news should be accurate and detailed above all else, and should never serve to do anything except truthfully inform. I’m sure if the last few weeks can prove anything, it’s the undeniable power and danger of news; the influence that the news has had directly on the health of people, on the country, on culture… call me an arse, but I’m proud to have been a part of it, in this small corner of the world. Thanks for being here along with me. But since I’ll be leaving the news behind me soon, I’d like to point you past my news section and towards the Byline, because there’s a lot more to life than news. You may have picked up that I draw and I write fiction when I’m not here, depressing you with the latest; can you imagine what the last few weeks of your life would have been like without TV, movies, books, magazines? Without video games, or clickbait on social media? The balance between staying informed and distracted, intelligent and happy, critical and hopeful… It’s been on my mind a lot these days, when even I have difficulty reading the headlines and not feeling discouraged. I’ve been a part of student media for three years, and all the while I’ve been pitching, applying for zines, self-publishing… It’s a strange old world, and it’s never seemed so pressing before that it’s important. I know that college is closed and you’re at home for a good while, but hey, listen: the Express (and even, god forbid, Motley Magazine) are both opening up their positions for next year. I recommend getting involved. It’s important. Do me proud. Thanks for reading the Express. It’s been a pleasure.
news@uccexpress.ie #uccexpress
Samantha
News
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
3
What does Covid-19 mean for the Irish Economy? Health Crisis to Economic Emergency Writes Maeve O’Sullivan, Deputy News Editor
The knock-on effect of Covid-19 on Ireland reaches far beyond the health and wellbeing of the Irish population. The economy has suffered a financial blow that explores figures far worse than the 2008 recession. The Central Statistics Office have released the Live Register figures for March, outlining how many people at the end of the month were claiming social welfare benefits as a result of being out of work.
Within four weeks there are 513,350 people in receipt of unemployment related benefits at the end of the month, an increase of 17%, a level that the economy did not even meet following the 2008 crisis years. The hard pill to swallow is the fact that there is worse to come. Only in the past week has the construction sector been shut down, which has over 147,000 workers that will be eligible for the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment.
Currently 283,000 people are receiving the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment in addition to the 25,104 Wage Subsidy Scheme, which is paid through employers rather than directly to the workers. Barely a month ago, the Live Register found 182,800 people on their register using their criteria, meaning unemployment was at 4.8%, technically speaking as ‘Full Employment’.
However, the Live Register is not a measure of unemployment in Ireland as in order to be counted as unemployed by the CSO, you must have been without work and available to for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work. Due the health and safety measurements taken by the Government; this is not possible for those who have recently lost work.
Economists have tried to estimate the figure by analysing the Live Register and have set the proposed figure at 17-18%, higher than the 16% recorded at the peak of the last financial crisis. (Figures as of April 3rd, provided by Industry and Employment expert Ingrid Miley) Additionally, the figures from the Exchequer Returns report indicted further economic struggle as tax receipts were €0.8 billion lower than had been expected as the start of the year, and are just 1 higher than for the same period last year. With the fall of imports and exports, this number is predicted to fall even further. To make matters tighter, the current expenditure is coming in as €1billion higher than expected and 11.8% more than during the same period last year. Again, this is to rise with the increased need for medical
supplies to tackle Covid-19. Ireland is not alone in their financial struggle. America has seen a record high figure of 6.7 million people filing claims for unemployment benefits. This is a dangerous truth for Ireland as we relied on America for 31% of exports last year, worth €47 billion. With a large chain of US Multinational companies such as Apple and Microsoft operating from Ireland, which provides employment for the Irish, this too will contribute to the unemployment figures. The US economy is to face shutdown, creating a bigger wave of financial burden on the Irish economy. The European Commission expects the EU to go into deep recession this year as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, affecting all 27 member states.
In This Issue.... Opinion Everything Happens for a Reason... Or does it? Food & Health Making the Most of the Mundane Music The Effect of COVID-19 on the Irish Music Industry Fashion Best Non-Irish Vintage Stores on Instagram
Page 10 Page 15 Page 17 Page 19 Christine Legard - President of ECB
News
4
On the Frontline Writes Mark Llewellyn, Staff Writer Today in Ireland we have an estimated 10,000 homeless individuals, and with our current pandemic, their lives have only become more difficult. For this reason, I’d like to talk to you about a student-led foundation I work with by the name of Frontline. We are currently in the process of setting up our foundation officially and once up and running, hope to tackle social issues wherever they lie in Cork, with a focus on homelessness. Our organisation was founded last year after the death of our friend Shayan Nasser Casey. As I’ve mentioned, we are mostly students, and so either through
friendship or social circles, we became aware of and inspired by Shayans dedicated activism. He had a drive to stand up for what he believed in and we hope to carry on that passion in the coming years. For a moment I would like to thank the real frontliners: the essential workers and retail staff working through this pandemic and keeping the country safe, healthy and well fed. Prior to Covid-19, charities in Cork city were already struggling. Charitable donations such as those to St Vincent de Paul were being used as a cheap and easy means to get rid of rubbish.
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
The number of donations of this nature are increasing with more torn, dirty and unwearable/ impractical clothes items being dropped off at clothes banks and other sources. A few members of our committee have expressed these concerns time and again while working with the charity ‘Cork Stand Together’, where one of them said there were debs dresses donated, making sifting through the vast piles of clothes all the more difficult for those volunteering their time. It has been made apparent that while donations are mostly clean, they are simply not able to be used. In another instance, the same volunteer said, “Many of the clothes sizes were large sizes and I remember one woman needing a pyjama top but we were unable to find a sufficient one that was close to her size to keep her warm”. For the
people who are out on our streets, these clothes donations are a vital source of warm and comfortable clothes. Dresses cannot keep a person warm on the streets. Because of these issues we found in our own research and through talking to charities, we have decided to raise awareness however we can until we are able to physically help. We have an Instagram account where we intend to raise awareness about this topic to people in Cork. We also have a Facebook account where we intend to post about how people can help Cork charities at this time once we have gathered more info. We hope to get back to our usual work of encouraging people to volunteer once this crisis is over. In the meantime, we hope everyone is safe and wish you the best of luck in the exams.
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
News
5
‘No Detriment’ Petition Gathers Thousands of Signatures Writes Samantha Calthrop, News Editor A petition calling for UCC to mitigate the upcoming Summer exam results has been circulating on social media, having gained almost 5000 signatures as of April 3rd. Launched by UCC student Conall Williamson, it calls upon UCC to introduce measures that prevent any student from being having their grades lowered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Since the university ceased all in-person operations on March 13th, a large proportion of students are now bereft of a suitable working environment, WiFi, laptops, computers and even office equipment,” the statement on the petition’s Change.org page reads, “Some students are exposed to toxic living conditions, without proper access to a safe place to do assessment in, or exposed to and caring for sick family members. “We, the students of UCC are asking the university to implement a “no detriment” system, in a similar manner to those being deployed across the universities of the United Kingdom, for example Exeter, Southampton, and Edinburgh.” The universities in question have “frozen” the marks obtained leading up to the crisis. The University of Exeter has ensured that grades cannot drop lower than they were up to the 15th of March as a result of work submitted during the crisis. Currently, UCC will be operating largely as normal, with assignments and exams moved online. On the 31st of March, UCC released its “No Academic Disadvantage” plan, which offers free exam deferrals and uncapped resits for students who have been affected by the pandemic. An online application process for these is to be announced shortly.
A statement on the UCC website reads, “The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented crisis. Students who complete their examinations will have their marks reviewed in the normal way, and all examination marks will be reviewed in light of these exceptional circumstances.” Petition manager Conall Williamson praised this decision, but stated that UCC needed to do more, pointing to other universities with more accommodating procedures. “While a positive first step, this does not go far enough, and still disadvantages students who have had their studies disrupted. The opportunity to sit an uncapped repeat will doubtless be comforting to students. However, this has now widened the gap between those who are disadvantaged and those who are not,” he wrote, “Students who have the luxury of a stable internet connection, a good laptop, a quiet home and a safe environment in which to do the exams are now afforded two opportunities to boost their grade, whereas someone without access to these facilities must simply defer. “This measure does not assuage the concerns of final year stu-
dents who have pending offers for jobs or masters that are contingent on their grades. In many cases, repeats are not an option for these students.” UCC Students are also making their feelings known as they call for academic pressures to be lightened. “Some students are in emergency or temporary accommodation and do not have access to essential study equipment. We are also trying to protect ourselves and our family from a global pandemic,” reads one comment on the petition’s page. “I don’t believe it is fair to continue with assessments that may harm your overall grades if the coursework and lab work was not possible to complete,” reads another, “Many students do not have environments conducive to study and others have children or family to care for, not to mention those who work in essential services and are in demand more than ever to cover more work hours. All motivation has gone out the window for those who work in healthcare like myself as I’m needed elsewhere and feel online assessments and college work are dragging me away from where I’m needed now.”
When contacted over the weekend by the Express a statement from the SU read: “We are aware of the petition and Ben has been in touch with its creator to hear their specific issues and to discuss ideas and explore all possible avenues for solving the problems being brought forward. We have been in contact with the Students’ Guild in Exeter to discuss their specific ‘No Detriment” Policy and have been in conversations with the USI and a number of other Students’ Union’s in the country about how best to approach the proposals put forward by students taking into account the regulations and oversight surrounding University examinations. This is an issue being faced by all third-level education students and greater national guidance and intervention is likely necessary to find a sufficient resolution.” The petition can be viewed using the following link: https://www.change. org/p/university-college-cork-no-detriment-policy-for-university-college-cork.
6
Features
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
Can Sentiment Analysis Map a Love Triangle? Writes Roisin O’Donnell, Features Editor
This feature will discuss how sentiment analysis can be used to recreate romantic relationships and obsessions in a narrative. Research question: ‘Can sentiment analysis be used to map the love triangle in Catherine Doyle’s series of novels?’ I have chosen the Blood for Blood trilogy because its plot and themes relate to my research question. And sentiment analysis because a love triangle is emotional and will use sentimental words. Performing sentiment analysis would be effective because the story is told in the first person. This means the story would be more personal and the emotional bias of the protagonist would be in the results. It will avoid one of the limitations of third- and second-person narrative mentioned in ‘A Survey on Sentiment and Emotion Analysis for Computational Literary Studies’. In the article it is explained it is ‘not clear how one can distinguish between emotion words used by the author to express their sentiment’.
text form could be found online. would tokenise all the sentences that include the chosen name and add it to a list. The list of sentencThe programming language Py- es would then be checked against thon. Plans for the programs that a list of a hundred positive, negawould perform the analysis were tive or neutral words. A hundred sketched out. The project would words were chosen to keep each be broken into two programs. The word list the same length. The first program would count the positive, neutral and negative number of times the two love in- lists included words related to the terest’s names appeared in each genre of novel. This led to the adbook. The names Nic and Luca dition of crime, mafia and murder are not listed on any universal to the negative word list. This depositive, negative or neutral word cision was made because fighting list but they would have senti- and death scenes are heavily feamental value to the protagonist. tured in the book. Some phrases If this theory was correct the in the novels are Italian. Words output of the program would be such as omertà (don’t snitch) who she was thinking about the were left out despite their signifmost in each book. It would also icance. I do not understand Italshow the person she was thinking ian and there could be a misinabout the least. The characters’ terpretation of the Italian data. full names, Gianluca and Nicoli, were not included. This decision was made because other charac- The program performs what Sarters shared these names and the ah Steger refers to as a ‘testbed’. The first task was finding and protagonist, Sophie, never refers An if statement that checks if the collecting the dataset. Online to Nic and Luca by these names. sentimental words from the list resources for the Blood for If the full names were included are present ‘with a classification Blood series were limited due it could cause incorrect results. of “sentimental” or “unsentimento the series’ small readertal”’. The program then counts ship and the first book being the occurrences of the sentimenpublished five years ago. Full The second program would look tal words and gives a total. Both versions of the books in plain for the occurrence of the name programs were executed on each Luca or Nic in a sentence. It
book and each character. Jupyter Notebook was used to recreate the initial findings visually. Each novel had a similar length. There is only a 1,000word difference between Inferno and Mafiosa. Vendetta is the shortest book in the series at 84,168 words. The relative frequency and the initial figures had an insignificant difference between each other. Relative frequency was calculated because each book in the series was focused on individually. The name occurrence methodology showed a clear pattern. In the first book, Vendetta, Nic has the highest name count. His name is mentioned 0.504% of the time. Luca’s relative frequency was 0.335%. In the second book in the series, Inferno, Nic and Luca’s name count results are even. Luca occurs in 0.382% of the novel and Nic occurs 0.315%. However, in the final book, Mafiosa, Nic’s name count remains about the same as in Inferno at 0.315%. The count of Luca is high-
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
er than Nic’s name count has ever been in the series. It has a relative frequency of 0.535%.
Sara Steger says on sentiment analysis, ‘sentimentality should carry its pattern close to the surface’. In my dataset this was subjective. This is because of the viThe results using a sentimen- olence and brutality featured in tal word list produced different the plot of the series. It makes results. A pattern that emerged the pattern between negative and in the dataset was the name positive sentiment a challenge with the highest positive count to interpret. This was especially had the highest negative count. true for the final book where maThis was not an expected result. jor action and character deaths In Vendetta, Nic had 0.165% occur. It makes it hard to gauge positive associations with his how much of the negativity is name in the dataset. This is the directed at the love interests. In highest. Luca had significantly any romance book it is expectlower, with 0.060% mentions ed that the least negative words in Vendetta. Luca had higher would be associated with the love negative than positive match- interest. The ‘pattern close to es with the sentimental word the surface’ can instead be seen list. But Nic had the highest more clearly in the name counts. negative matches despite being the most positively associated with in the narrative. The name counts show the real course of the story. In the first Like the name occurrences, in Inferno the sentiment analysis showed smaller differences between results. The pattern of the person with the highest positive count having the most negative count continued. With Luca scoring the highest positive and negative occurrences. He was mentioned positively 0.079% of the time and negatively 0.093% of the time. Nic’s results dropped significantly. He had a positive frequency of 0.070% in Inferno. He had a negative relative frequency of 0.072%. In Mafiosa, Luca’s results show he received more neutral mentions than Nic. Nic achieved 0.0210% of neutral mentions and Luca received 0.048%. Following the pattern from the results of the other books, Luca’s sentences matched with the positive word list and the negative word list the most. In Mafiosa, his positive and negative analysis results are close to each other. At a relative frequency, his positive and negative results are 0.135% and 0.137%. It is a dramatic difference between Luca’s results in Inferno and Vendetta
book, Nic is Sophie’s love interest. In several scenes he is shown to be especially kind to Sophie and interested in her romantically. Luca is presented as the enemy. He mocks Sophie on several occasions and only features in the story when Nic is present. The name counts support this interpretation. It shows Nic has more occurrences than Luca. In the second book, Inferno, Sophie has feelings for both boys. She struggles to choose between them. The name counts show she thinks back and forth between the two of them. In the third book, Mafiosa, Luca is shown as Sophie’s boyfriend whereas However, Nic in Vendet- Nic is painted as an enemy. The ta has the overall the high- story shifts its focus to Luca and est occurrence of positive as- Sophie’s relationship and trials. sociation by around 0.03%. The name counter shows Luca’s increased presence in the story
Features
7
and Nic’s decreasing presence.
thought about more than Nic.
The most positive mentions in the series belong to Nic in Vendetta. This is strange and unexpected because he is not the love interest Sophie chooses at the end of the series. This shows that Vendetta is the happiest novel in the series. The dataset’s narrative gets darker as the series progresses. This is seen in the rise in the relative frequency of negative associations. This is probably because in Vendetta Sophie is ignorant of the mafia and the type of lives her love interests live. Sophie does not experience much fear in this novel. However, there is an exception at the end of the novel. A gang fight breaks out and Sophie uses her body to shield a wounded Luca from the gun fire. In comparison, in the two following nov-
There is a 0.03% difference in relative frequency between Luca’s final name count and Nic’s first name count. This could suggest in the final book she cared more for Luca than Nic. The negative and positive analysis also shows Sophie seeing Luca as a partner. She experiences positive and negative associations with him. This could indicate she trusts him and works as a team with him. The results also show the problematic aspects to the novel. At the beginning of the project I reflected on the book series. I had theorised Sophie’s relationships with Nic and Luca are not healthy. In the first book Luca, hits Sophie in the face with a basketball and laughs when she is injured. When Sophie meets Nic he chases her and knocks her down. Because of the crime bases of the novel, it is not possible with sentiment analysis to figure out how common these occurrences are. And, how negatively they influence Sophie’s relationship with the pair.
The limitations and affordances of sentiment analysis were important to consider when making an interpretation of this dataset. It was equally important to consider the context of els feature Sophie’s mother dying the results. The context helped in a fire and Sophie being shot in me expand on the patterns that a failed assassination attempt. were revealed in the results. To end this answered research question, I believe my methodology and the results it yielded answered my research question in the most effective way. The limitations such as collecting the dataset were overcome. Ultimately the use of visualisation techniques such as bar charts and line graphs successfully remapped Catherine It is possible, according to the re- Doyle’s Blood for Blood series. sults, that Sophie’s time at the be- Additionally, it created more ginning of the series with Nic was research questions. Such as her happiest time in the love trian- how healthy were the relationgle. The results also show that Lu- ships and how much the genre ca’s name has more sentimental of the series interfered with value to Sophie than Nic’s has ever the results. And overall, it anhad. An overall analysis shows swered theories and provided that Luca has been mentioned and figures to match those theories. The sentiment analysis results show Vendetta is her happiest time in the series. Vendetta has the highest positive sentiment analysis result. It could be debated whether this is her happiest time because Sophie is not in a relationship with Luca at this point in the series.
8
Features
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
Communicating With Friends During Lockdown Writes Molly O’Rourke, Deputy Features Editor While the country has only been on official lockdown for a little over a week, college students around the country have been out of their normal routines for three weeks. Since schools and universities closed, we’ve all been changing the way we communicate, interact and lead our daily lives. Most of us are missing our friends, our nights out in town and our coffees on campus (I’m really missing spending ridiculous amounts of money on sub-par coffees). So, while we do have to find new ways to interact online, it’s made a lot easier with the huge range of online resources and sites available to us. Over the last week, I have used all of the following sites and have decided to give my personal experience of each one. that simple. Google Hangouts is compatible across most devices, While many people are aware and as it connects to your Google of Discord, there are other sim- account, you can access your conilar sites that might be useful versations from all your devices. for having group video calls. I personally prefer Google HangOriginally made for the online outs, it is the easiest to use, fairgaming community, Discord ly stress-free and the video and is useful for chatting with a sound quality are really good. group while playing a game, as you can have the window min- Another popular option for group imised in the background and calls is Zoom, which is another it will still pick up on your au- free software designed for busidio. However, even if you aren’t ness meetings. There is a free verplaying a game it can work as sion available, which allows you to a group chat software. While it host up to 100 people in a meeting, is a bit confusing to begin with, however in group meetings there the app is easy enough to use is a time limit of 40 minutes. Only after a while. The only issue I the host of the meeting needs to have with Discord is the auto- have a Zoom account, others can matic start-up everytime I turn join the conversation through the on my laptop. Apart from that, invite. After trying Zoom, I honI would definitely recommend estly wouldn’t recommend it to it. anyone. It’s a bit of a chore to set up in the first place, you have to Google Hangouts is a really install the software and set up an easy (and free!) way to con- account and it all seems so unnect with your friends. Group necessary at half ten when all you conversations can host up to want to do is chat to your friends. 100 people, while the video call option allows up to 10 partici- Another issue is the connection; pants. To start your own con- even with a strong WIFI signal versation you can either invite the video is pixelated and lags a people by email or simply send bit. Finally, Zoom offers a screen them a link to join the chat. It’s sharing option that allows you to
enable audio as well, which would be useful for watching shows not available on Netflix, however, this feature is absolutely horrendous. As soon as you play the video, the quality drops to 480p and jumps every few seconds. In short, stay away from Zoom. Netflix Party is another web extension that has been proven popular in the last week. Once you install the extension, you can sync up videos on Netflix and have a group chat open on the same screen. This is a really handy feature for watching TV shows and movies with your friends, although it is important to note that the extension is only available on Chrome desktops and laptops. Interestingly, Netflix Party has actually been around for years, so why is it only becoming popular now? I would argue that it’s because there are a few problems with the software, such as the outrageously large chat screen that takes up a significant portion of the screen. If you opt to use this feature, you’ll more than likely miss a lot of dialogue because the sound of typing will cover it. You may also notice the delay in typing your message and it appearing for the other per-
son, meaning your perfectly timed joke lands a second or two too late to be appreciated. Don’t even get me started on the disaster that is the pause button; it only decides to work 25% of the time. And if one person pauses, when they resume the video jumps to catch up to the other person, with a 3 second delay… Finally, I must give an honourable mention to my favorite website so far, Pretend You’re Xyzzy. This website allows you to play Cards Against Humanity with your friends online. While it’s not visually appealing, the site allows you to play with groups of friends and has all the expansion packs available. It’s a little difficult to set up a game, and those joining you will need a password, however if you combine the game with a Discord audio chat then it is guaranteed fun and a nice escape for a while. Just make sure you wear earphones for this one, as you don’t want your poor mom hearing the outrageous (yet hilarious) card combinations your friends submit.
Opinion
10
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
Everything Happens for a Reason... Or does it? Writes Elisha Carey, Opinion Editor
Isolation day 16. I’ve been wracking my brain for days, weeks even, trying to come up with an idea for my final opinion piece. The big finisher. Something that wraps up all these months of hard work in a neat little bow. As much as I’ve tried to resist it, it feels weird to write about anything other than what’s happening right now. Our lives have, in a very short space of time, morphed into the dystopian teen fiction novels we read growing up, but instead of getting to shoot arrows or whatever the hell Shailene Woodley was able to do in Divergent, we just sit at home for what’s kinda like an endless and even more depressing Stephen’s Day (minus the getting pissed with your friends). The apocalypse is here, and I don’t even know where my shoes are.
After gushing about the experience non-stop in my last opinion piece, I’ve had to end my Erasmus early. These long quarantine days are spent torturing myself thinking that if only I had known what was to come, I would’ve napped
less and cycled more, gone for more coffees with friends and visited a museum at least once or twice. If I had known it would be my last time seeing them, I would have hugged my little Erasmus family that bit tighter when we gathered in my room for what we thought was just a see-you-soon party. Crucially, I definitely wouldn’t have skipped two whole nights out in order to do the readings for my Thursday morning class. I had only skipped them because I felt assured of many more great nights out for the rest of the semester. But how naïve I was. We’re not assured of anything in this life, except that it is going to be hugely, very disappointing at times.
Since I’m a huge ball of cringe, it comes naturally that I’m also a big believer in “what’s meant for you won’t pass by you” and everybody’s personal favourite “everything happens for a reason.” But the more I try to apply these to the situation our world now finds itself in, the less sense they make. For the first time in my life, I watch the news every night. It tells tales of limited ICU beds, death
tolls and makeshift morgues in ice skating rinks, refrigerated trucks and carparks. I was especially struck by video footage of inside a hospital in Madrid, where the coronavirus patients lay coughing on the floor, because there wasn’t enough hospital beds to deal with the numbers. With the amount of people I see on Instagram stories still going on picnics and walks with their friends, this could well be our future too.
In the wake of devastation, we’re told to believe that bad things happen for a reason, and once we learn from them, we are rewarded with some sort of happily ever after. Like many others, I believe in this romantic notion of beginnings and endings. Movies (at least the bad, sappy ones that I watch) begin where the main character is just constantly getting screwed over and end with some sort of triumph: getting the girl, the round of applause or the trophy and being carried off the field on the shoulders of your teammates. Cinema rewards trauma with having your dream come true. I’m not going to lie, I’ve felt more sorry for myself than is socially acceptable these past few
weeks. It’s like I’m trapped inside a Groundhog Day hellscape where every single day is just: wake up, google whether the Netherlands has gotten the coronavirus situation under control, cry when it obviously hasn’t, go to sleep, lather, rinse, repeat. I’m riding out the rest of this quarantine on a spectacular wave of selfpity. It’s felt a little like being robbed. I chose this course because it afforded me the opportunity to study abroad and I slaved away in a retail job I hated in order to fund the trip. All for nought. And I’ve been pondering just how the universe is going to reward me for this. Repay me for my mild suffering. I would accept a Master’s programme, a Pulitzer prize or Prince Harry as my boyfriend. Happily ever afters make the bad stuff make sense. They are our reason in a world without any.
Allowing myself to indulge in my hard-done-by-ness lacks crucial perspective. My disappointment over my Erasmus is nothing when compared to the hundreds of thousands of job
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express losses of last month, as well as the 85 lives lost so far in this country. Frontline healthcare workers are having to face going to work every day where they know only two things for certain: that they will come into contact with covid-positive people and that there is a shortage of personal protective equipment. I worry for my friends on placement as well as relatives who are being asked to reuse their surgical masks. People are dying and more people will die. It’s unspeakable and nightmarish and it’s now reality. Could all this have happened for a reason? Is there a lesson in it somewhere from which we can learn? And afterwards will we be rewarded with some sort of equal yet opposite reaction?
Unfortunately, even the biggest thing we can dream up is not the secret to healing the losses we have and will suffer as a result of these incredibly trying times. Because things don’t happen for some prescriptive, predetermined reason. They just happen. Sometimes what happens is great, sometimes what happens is devastating but real life is what happens in the equilibrium between greatness and devastation. Life does not begin at pain and end with success. It meanders along between the two. I understand that people use the phrase to offer comfort to others or bring it to themselves and the idea that there is no preordained script or omnipotent power controlling the trajectory of our lives can leave us feeling, well, helpless.
But even if everything does not have a reason that does not mean we cannot bring reason or meaning to the things that do happen. When we take back the responsibility to make something out of the horrible events that occur in the course of life, we also regain some control. Make no mistake, this requires some heavy-lifting and is probably just about the last thing anyone wants
to put their energy into when they are experiencing profound pain or loss. On the first day of my J1, just a couple of hours after I got off the plane, I found out that my granny had passed away. We were incredibly close, so this was a loss that had the potential of unravelling the whole summer for me, but I channelled my grief into my work with the children I was teaching. I encouraged them to write down the things that made them sad or things they wanted to let go of on pieces of scrap paper and we burned them (on a fire we made ourselves) or we put them in a time capsule and buried them in the woods. The whole experience was cathartic and I wonder if I would’ve been able to touch the lives of the young girls I worked with as well if I hadn’t suffered the heartbreak of losing my grandmother. American author and one of my personal favourites, Neil Gaiman, once wrote, “face your life, it’s pain, it’s pleasure, leave no path untaken.” Giving up is easy, waiting around for a reason to explain life’s unfairness is easy too. What is difficult is actually taking responsibility for how we heal and process our pain. We don’t own events or their reasons, but we own what we do with them. We cannot wait for a grand reckoning to explain all this. Some good thing to come along and wipe all our slates clean. Some reason. Because no good thing will be big enough to erase loss from who we are now. Not even marrying Prince Harry (who maybe you heard, married somebody who wasn’t me). When all this is over, we won’t be rewarded for the pain we endured or the restraint we had to show by staying away from our loved ones so that they could be safe. Because pain is not the currency we use to buy a happy ending. Things are likely to be even harder for a little while, many people will have lost somebody close to them and the economy will be in absolute tatters. Together we will have to find our own reasons and make something of this new path we’ve found ourselves on, dust ourselves off and begin again.
Opinion
11
BYLINE
‘Catching Sunlight’ by Caoimhe Leahy, University Express Photographer
Editorial
14
Jeez, this is it… Final editorial. I’m not sure how many of you are reading this, but to those of you who are, thank you! Its been a wild ride and a pleasure to serve as deputy editor of the paper this year and a privilege to edit the Byline section. I’ve said it before, but it really cannot be understated how top notch all the work that has been done by this group of editors has been. Not just within byline, but the entire paper has been at an incredibly high standard this year and it’s been a brilliant learning experience. To anyone who is considering applying for the paper, I could not encourage you enough to do so. Best of luck to all those applying, and if anyone has any questions, please do let me know either by email or Twitter! This issue, while slightly shorter than a standard issue, is still jam-packed full of interesting content! Obviously, given our current times, the pandemic has had quite an influence on our writers, with Jack’s Gaming, Fiona’s Music, Katie’s Fashion and Fiona’s Arts & Lit sections all touching on the virus’ effect on those respective industries. Eoghan has covered the launch of Disney+ (which I am loving) and Katie has given us some ingredients to mix into our porridge to add a bit of excitement to our days! I also gave a short contribution to Jack’s sport article this week, which got me feelings all sorts of nostalgia! It would be remiss for me not to send my best to all of our readers during these trying times. I hope you’re all keeping well and keeping sane! Obviously, the indoor life can get rather mundane. I’m finding it particularly difficult to find much to do aside from eating! My stash of Easter eggs has already disappeared and as I write this, I’ve just reached the halfway point in a bag of mini eggs. I keep meaning to get some ingredients to bake something simple, but it continues to slip my mind. Best of luck to you all in your exams and I can’t wait to watch the new Express team form over the next few weeks. There is a fantastic bunch of writers currently on the paper and I hope to see them take a step-up next year, which they’re all more than able to do! A huge thank you to our designer Fiona Cremins for her magnificent work this year, and to the bossman Ciaran Dineen who has put up with all sorts of my shit this year! The final edition down, and the final spiel of my inane ramblings, big sad. Cheers again for checking us out! Contributions and complaints can make their way to John Cian McGrath
byline@uccexpress.ie
Food and Health
Editor: Katie Kelly
“Is Butter a Carb?” Writes Katie Kelly, Food & Health Editor
15
Making the Most of the Mundane Writes Katie Kelly, Food & Health Editor
Isolation to protect against Covid-19 can have us feeling many things, ranging from fear to boredom. One way of reducing boredom during this time could be making small changes to what you’re eating each day. A great way of doing this is by changing up the toppings that you’re putting on your porridge each morning. Here’s a few ideas to get you started:
This line, made famous by Regina George in 2004’s “Mean Girls”, exemplifies the confusion and misconceptions that often surround carbohydrates. First things first, the answer is no; butter is not a carb. But what exactly are carbohydrates? Why are they needed? And how much of them should we be consuming? Carbohydrates are macronutrients, as are fats and protein. In recent years, low-carbohydrate diets such as the Ketogenic diet and the Atkins diet have given the impression that carbohydrates are bad for our health. However, this is not the case as they are needed for a number of important functions in our bodies. Carbohydrates are the main source of energy for the body. This is especially important when it
comes to exercise, as it is the only fuel that can be used for high-intensity anaerobic exercise. They also prevent protein from being used for energy, which is important for sparing muscle tissue. Our brains also need glucose to function, which is obtained from the breakdown of carbohydrates. Carbohydrates can be categorised roughly into sugars, starch and fibre. Sugars are naturally present in many foods and are added to others such as chocolate, sweets, biscuits, certain breakfast cereals and fizzy drinks in the form of free sugars. These are the types of sugars we should aim to consume less of as they can lead to tooth decay. Starch is found in foods such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta. Fibre absorbs water in the gut, which delays gastric empty-
ing, allowing us to feel fuller for longer and preventing constipation. Sources of fibre include fruit, vegetables, beans and lentils. Choose brown or wholegrain versions of rice, bread and pasta to increase your intake of fibre. It is recommended that around 55% or more of our total energy intake is from carbohydrates. Athletes will need a higher intake of carbohydrates than sedentary individuals to provide energy for exercise. The Food Pyramid indicates that you should consume 3-7 portions from the “cereals, breads, potatoes, pasta and rice” group each day, depending on your age, gender and activity levels. So, there is no need to fear the humble spud or slice of toast. Embrace these foods and just remember to enjoy them in moderation!
• Berries: Fresh or frozen berries are a great addition to porridge and contribute to your 5-7 portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Choose from blueberries, raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, depending on your preferences. Frozen berries are a particularly convenient way of doing this at the moment, as they keep well in your freezer and can reduce the number of trips to the supermarket needed. • Seeds: Seeds are a great way of including healthy fats such as omega-3 in your breakfast. Try adding chia seeds, flaxseeds, pumpkin seeds or poppy seeds for a little variety. • Banana and nut butter: This is a great combination and should keep you feeling full. Try adding a drizzle of peanut butter or almond butter to add a new texture and flavour to your porridge. • Apple and cinnamon: This combination is great for a warm, cosy breakfast on a rainy morning. Try stewing the apples the night before to make it extra tasty. • Dried fruit such as sultanas or raisins are a good way of fitting some fruit into your breakfast if fresh fruit is not available during these times. • Cocoa powder or a square of dark chocolate melted into your porridge can make a lovely chocolatey treat. This could be a good idea to do on the weekends, if you can keep track of what day it is during this isolation period!
Film & T.V.
Editor: Eoghan Creedon Disney Plus Launches. Film & TV Editor Struggles to Write Article
16
Writes Eoghan Creedon, Film & TV Editor
Disney Plus has finally arrived in Ireland and it could not come at a better time. While we all may stuck inside for the next 14 years with the poxy Corona Virus outbreak, at least we have a whole streaming service full of nostalgia to keep us going. Unless of course you preferred Nickelodeon as a child. If that’s the case, you’re worse than the Corona Virus. Parents with young children now have the ability to completely ignore their kids despite being trapped inside with them all day, every day for the foreseeable future. Disney Plus has graced us all with their extensive back catalogue of films and tv series, spanning back to Disney’s early beginnings. Users can avail of a subscription which costs €6.99 a month or €69.99 a year. Both options are unbelievably generous from Disney. Especially when you consider that a Netflix subscription will set you back €11.99 for a standard membership. Despite the generously low membership rate, is a Disney Plus subscription actually worth it? Yes. Obviously. We’re in lockdown for like the next 172 years. What else are you going to be doing? However, people have not seemed to realise just how good this deal is. Lets’ make one thing clear. Disney own about 90% of Hollywood. 20th Century Fox? That’s Disney’s. Star Wars? That’s Disney’s too. National Geographic?
You bet your ass Disney own that bad boy. Disney have been purchasing production companies at a frighteningly quick pace over the years. They’ll somehow own you and your loved ones too in a few short years, just you wait. My very convoluted point being, Disney own so much, and we’re getting to watch it all for under €85 a year no matter what. That’s insane. Anything you can possibly think of which Disney are attached to is on Disney Plus. I spent the first night of my Disney Plus subscription watching bang average, mostly forgotten about Disney Channel Original Movies from the early 2000s. Safe to say, I was overcome with a wave of nostalgia watching the likes of The Even Stevens Movie, You Wish and Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off. A can of Coke to anyone who remembers them. When I had my fair share of 2003 mediocrity, I switched over to some actual films. The kind that get released in the Cinema. Every single Marvel movie is available on Disney Plus. Personally, I have never bought into the hype of the MCU, but since we’re stuck inside, I thought “why not give it a go?”. It’s all extremely overrated from what I’ve seen so far, but that’s neither here nor there. It now couldn’t be easier to watch all of the blockbusters and pop culture phenomena that you were too busy to see when they first released. All we have for the next
73,864 years of lockdown is free time. Personally, I’m going to suffer through the rest of the MCU just so people can finally stop annoying me when I say that I haven’t seen all of it yet. Then I’m going to head over to a galaxy far, far away and try to pinpoint where exactly Star Wars went from the greatest film franchise of all time, to an embarrassing shell of itself that butt hurt fans now use to shit in. When I’ve completed that mind-numbing slog… maybe watch some Hannah Montanna? Am I saying Disney Plus is fantastically ground-breaking? No. Am I saying its worth the subscription fee? Yes. Am I trying to pad out this article because Hollywood has gone into lockdown with the rest of the world and there is absolutely no news to report on? You know it. When Disney Plus first launched in the US back in November 2019, subscribers were having their accounts stolen. I wrote an article about it. You should read it if you haven’t already. It’s most certainly better than this tripe you’re currently reading. However, I was expecting Disney Plus to be this grandiose eutopia of entertainment from generations past, present and future (somehow). It would have to be to warrant stealing people’s accounts. But no. Hackers just really wanted to watch The Mandalorian apparently, which is also tragically mediocre.
The expectations of Disney Plus were set unachievably high after that. Those expectations were not met. Disney Plus is exactly what you would expect it to be, but that’s still great. It cannot be underestimated just how good of a time the launch of Disney Plus has been. People who were not planning on purchasing the streaming service have undoubtedly paid for a subscription just to pass away the time and cope with the boredom of self-isolation. Despite there currently being a global pandemic, Disney have somehow come out as big winners. If you haven’t already subscribed to Disney Plus, you will. Sooner or later the boredom of self-isolation will get to you and you will grow tired of Netflix, Prime Video and whatever crap is still on regular Television channels. Do yourself a favour, create an account now before Disney go full Disney and charge you a small fortune for an above average product. Regardless if you subscribe to Disney Plus or not, please stay safe during these difficult times and I cannot apologise enough for making this pandemic even worse for you by forcing you to read this utter disgrace of an ‘article’.
Music
Editor: Fiona O’ Connell
17
The Effect of COVID-19 on the Irish Music Industry & Irish Artists to Lend Your Ears, Time, and Maybe Even Your Money To Writes Fiona O’Connell, Music Editor
The effect of COVID-19 can be felt in every aspect of the public sector. From hospitality to the health sector, from retail to the entertainment industry; every market has been hit. Unemployment is reaching heights unseen in decades and the level of uncertainty and worry clogging up the air can feel suffocating. Falling into the self-employed category for the majority, musicians are continuing to feel the impact of this pandemic with cancelled shows as well as the lack of accessibility to studios. Summer is one of the busiest and most exciting times for touring musicians. Festival season poses endless promotional opportunities as well as a guaranteed income over the course of a few sun-filled months. Before all of this madness, the Irish music scene was flourishing; extending its arms into the global scene with
exuberant amounts of talent. A small scene and a very interconnected bunch, these musicians are bubbling with outrageous talent and innovative musical thought that deserves to be heard. And with that I think it’s time to lend our ears to these musicians. Whether you stream your music, or buy it on vinyl or CD, I have compiled a list of some of the most exciting musicians in Ireland today along with some of their most recent releases which will hopefully provide some light in all of this darkness. ‘How To Disappear’ Paddy Mulcahy A Limerick-born electronic music producer and composer, Paddy Mulcahy has been releasing dreamy tracks for the last four years. ‘How to Disappear’ provides six and a half minutes of sound creation and development.
A choral-like, two chord pattern lures you in as soft keys set the tone of the song. It rises and falls effortlessly and continually. Growing before curling inwards, this piece is utterly mesmerizing.
‘How do I look now?’ is so widely accepted as normal. Linked to our obsession with image and its portrayal, this song conveys a powerful social commentary set against a perfect indie pop background.
‘FOOL’ Alex Gough It is difficult to discuss up and coming artists without mentioning rising star Alex Gough. The CIT student has burst onto the music scene triumphantly with singles such as ‘Breakfast’ and ‘Step to Me’ gathering thousands of streams nationally. Providing unique live experiences as he raps while drumming, Gough has been compared to superstar Andesrson Paak for his infectious musical energy as well as his multitasking skills. ‘FOOL’ is brash, catchy, and all-consuming. Hugely rhythmic and lyrically confident, Gough embodies the brash nature of authentic hip hop. Reminiscent of Kojaque, artists like Gough don’t come around too often, especially in Ireland.
‘Full Stop’ David Keenan With a spoken word intro gently accompanied by an acoustic guitar, the Dundalk native whispers ‘come back to me now in a waking dream, won’t you’. This sets the stone for the dreamy soundscape as conjured up in this acoustic track. Keenan embodies an old, longing soul, sharing his innermost thoughts in an almost unbearably vulnerable fashion. Keenan’s genius lies in his simplicity combined with poetic talent; ‘Pour your tears into my mouth, take this gift of quiet love’. Needing nothing more than a gentle acoustic guitar backing, Keenan’s songwriting is storytelling poetry at its finest.
‘Lucy’Yenkee Arguably one of the catchiest, cleverest opening melodies of the year thus far. The Cork native has a way of luring listeners in with earworms that spin around your brain until you begin to break down and question his lyrics. ‘I know that the world is slowly getting colder, but something in the way you give me the cold shoulder’
‘Knock Me Off My Feet’ SOAK The lead single from SOAK’s sophomore album, Knock Me Off My Feet is perfect, anthemic pop. ‘You came again, knock me off my feet. But I won’t stop now, I won’t take a seat’. A love letter to small-town life, this song would soundtrack a coming of age, indie film perfectly. When pop is achieved this effortlessly and perfectly, it’s damn hard to beat. Plenty more to come from this songstress.
‘HowDoILook’ Pillow Queens ‘I just can’t let my mind wander, it always takes a dodgy street and I get nervous, and just retreat.. It took a while but I don’t mind, how does my body look in this light?’ In this track the four piece all-girl band break down the emphasis placed on self-image and body dysmorphia growing up as a girl in the modern age. This constant questioning of
‘Seven’ Just Mustard Deep, dark and all enticing, this track features crunching, reverberated guitar noise against plucked guitar and bass as well as a syncopated drum rhythm. Lead singer Katie Ball’s breathy vocals draw listeners in, reminiscent of Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell. Ominous and dark, Seven is repetitive as it slowly climbs to an almighty climax.
Gaming
Editor: Jack coleman
18
The Resilience of Esports in a Crisis Writes Jack Coleman, Gaming Editor The NBA, the Premier League, the UEFA European Football Championships, Formula One and now the 2020 Olympic Games. All cancelled as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, sending many fans and athletes into a period of uncertainty. It’s times like this that we appreciate the mobile and online nature of esports. Despite an unprecedented level of shutdown across the world, some of the largest esports events have found a way to go ahead despite the pandemic. There were rumblings about how the coronavirus would affect esports back in January when the virus first began to emerge in China. The League of Legends Pro League (LPL), which had been in a one-week break for Chinese New Year, quickly suspended all future games. Then, the Overwatch League which was set to launch their “homesteads” this season (essentially home games for teams) ended up cancelling the events set to take place in China, where four of their teams originate. However, no one had predicted the scale of the outbreak at the time and many weekly leagues and tournaments continued to run until March when many countries implemented social distancing procedures, making in-person events impossible. The shutdown went in waves for many of these events. First, the decision was made to host the events without live crowds and test all the competitors before they entered the arena. As the situation worsened across the globe, press and other industry professionals were barred from entering venues to interview players. Finally, events were forced to stop completely in the interest of safety. For a time, no events were going ahead but esports has proved remarkably resilient in the face of this pandemic. The League of Legends circuit is back in full swing. All competitive regions are once again operating online. Interestingly, for a period of a couple of weeks, the
Chinese LPL was the only league running owing to the improving situation in China as the worldwide situation deteriorated. The production quality has been surprisingly good despite the remote nature of the production staff and the on-screen talent. The perseverance of everyone involved in the production of these weekly events is admirable considering the circumstances. The live finals that were supposed to be held for every region have been cancelled (Budapest & Houston were the known venues) and will be played online instead. This certainly represents a loss in revenue for each league but the situation could have been much worse. Overwatch League recently restarted after a stoppage. Their plan was originally to restart the league on March 21st but after California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide shutdown on March 19th, the league’s restart was delayed a week until March 28th. It has since restarted successfully. In the Counter-Strike scene, the
newly-established Flashpoint league has launched despite the coronavirus pandemic. Though the rookie league has had to cancel its live events and grand finals in Stockholm, it’s weekly games are still going ahead. The survival of esports despite the worldwide pandemic has attracted the attention of mainstream media outlets. The Washington Post, ESPN and BBC have all written pieces on how esports is one of the few sporting industries that appears to be semi-immune to the crisis. Recently, it became legal to bet specifically on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in Nevada. As most sports are not currently running any matches, esports is one of the few events still available to bet on which has prompted several sportsbooks to feature the sport more prominently on their sites. In many ways, this pandemic has thrust esports into the spotlight and the industry has responded incredibly well. With so much new venture capital invested in
recent years, the industry could scarcely afford to halt completely, a privilege more traditional sports can avail of. Esports is currently booming, and so far hasn’t let the pandemic dent its momentum too significantly. New leagues are still popping up, mainstays are still running weekly and events are still planned for a post-pandemic world such as the famous Evolution Championship Series (EVO) which is still planning to go ahead at the beginning of August. The coronavirus has disrupted sporting events, concerts, economies, governments and most importantly, everyone’s lives. The globe is facing an unprecedented challenge, and everyone is being affected to a certain extent. However, it’s comforting to know that despite all the disruption and turmoil in the world right now, esports fans can still tune into their favourite league at the end of the week for a modicum of normalcy. It’s a small comfort in these trying times.
Fashion
Editor: Katie Burke
19
Best Non-Irish Vintage Stores on Instagram Writes Katie Burke, Fashion Editor
The current Covid-19 pandemic has a lot of fashion businesses hard, especially smaller independent ones. When this is all over it would be great to support them in helping to build them back up. As always, vintage shopping is being encouraged to continue to do our bit and there are some great Irish shops out there to be supportive of such as Spice Vintage, Dublin Vintage Factory and Nine Crows. However, if you want to venture further afield and show other vintage stores from outside Ireland your support when this all over, here are some of our top picks. Dark Paradise Vintage / @darkparadisevintage This UK-based online vintage shop can be found on ASOS Marketplace, Depop and Etsy. With stock sourced from around the world, check out their Instagram feed for some badass style inspiration with stock varying from the most amazing sunglasses to the most unique footwear, as well as everything else in between. CRK Shop / @ c r k . s h o p CRK can also be found on Depop, this vintage store curates
an impressive inventory of minimalist wardrobe staples that will elevate any outfit. From Y2K handbags to blazer jackets in every colour, I think this shop has pieces for everyone, regardless of different styles. Serotonin Vintage / @serotoninvintage If you’re on the hunt for some vintage designer bits than look no further than this London based store. Featuring designers from Moschino to Fendi, their Instagram page is a treasure trove for those looking for the most eye-catching designer goods. Electric Wardrobe Vintage / @electricwardrobevintage Described in their bio as ‘cool and quirky vintage finds for femme fatales and Rockstar gals’; this independent business is ideal for those looking to channel serious 70s Rockstar vibes. From Bowie-esque flares to disco hotpants, you’re sure to spot something incredible on their Instagram page or their space on ASOS Marketplace. Oldé Vintage / @olde.paris This Parisian vintage shop is
perfect for anyone who loves the 70s/80s cool French girl. However, with recurring items being sophisticated trench coats and Instagram worthy houndstooth blazers, this shop’s items can easily be worked into any wardrobe and any style if you put your mind to it. Rokit Vintage / @rokitvintage This London based store proudly states that they have been recycling clothes since 1986, so long before the current call to arms for eco-friendly shopping. This store is one of London’s best-known vintage stores and earlier this year launched their Rokit Originals / @rokitoriginals venture. With vintage clothes reworked by their own team in London to give them a contemporary lease of life, you can expect everything from tartan trousers and miniskirts to fluffy leopard print flares which I have bought and worn with pride. WE ARE COW / @wearecow This store is one of the best in the business when it comes to reworking vintage clothing and creating their own handmade pieces. With stores across the
UK, WE ARE COW reworks vintage clothing into pieces which work better in current fashion trends, proving that if you’re an ardent trend follower there are vintage options out there for you. Found and Vision / @foundandvision Not only does their Instagram page share photos of the great stock they have in their London store, but they regularly share photos of their incredibly stylish and unique customers. If you’re on the lookout for some style inspiration, then this shop’s Instagram page comes highly recommended. The Market Cartel / @themarketcartel This store was featured in a British Vogue article on the best vintage shops in London, so they must be doing something right. With vintage clothing, accessories and homeware on sale, this shop seems to be an Aladdin’s cave for the most beautiful vintage pieces. From Woodstock worthy floral dresses to the most unique jewellery, this seems to be the store for those who really want to up the glamour stakes.
20
Photos
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
by Caoimhe Leahy,
‘Beauty amongst the chaos’ By Caoimhe Leahy, University Express Photographer
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
Photos
21
Arts & Literature
Editor: Fiona Keeley
22
Arts Alternative In The Face Of Covid-19 Writes Fiona Keeley, Arts & Literature Editor
This isn’t an article I ever thought I would write. Due to the severity of the Covid-19 situation humanity has been asked to enforce strict measures in the name of keeping people safe from the virus. This not a situation we have encountered in living memory and it impacts every part of our lives, including how we interact with arts and literature. Despite this, many people have used their initiative and creativity to provide outlets where we can associate with arts and literature in what can only be described as these unprecedented times. When An Taoiseach delivered his speech in Washington D.C he dealt with how Covid-19 will affect our lives in the weeks and perhaps months to come. The line that caught my attention was “cultural institutions will close”. While that move was not entirely unexpected considering the other measures that were being announced alongside it, it did leave that hanging question; how people would get in touch with arts and literature during these uncertain times? Public health is a top concern right now, but it is important to remember that arts and literature can bring enjoyment to life. Something that may become a crucial part of living as we engage with social distancing measures. As news of the announcement started to trickle through to the multiple cultural institutions in Cork, notices appeared across social media and other platforms to tell the public that these artistic outlets would be closed for a matter of weeks. Make no mistake, these are unprecedented times. However, people have used their innovation and creativity to become involved in the arts and literature sphere in a space that does not require being among other members of society. The Internet has really come to the fore and provided an outlet for artistic expression so people can gather inside a virtual space. It is a phenomenon of our time, something that was only available during one previous pandemic.
Artistic groups have been springing up on several online platforms to engage artists of all ages while they are following social distancing guidelines. The #wewilldraw Challenge was started on Twitter by artist Will Sliney, who is an illustrator for Marvel comics. Each day Will Sliney tweets a picture of a different character and young artists draw the character and then tweet their response. The personalities have ranged from Spiderman; to Star Wars; to favourite Disney character. Will Sliney also hosts a live stream on YouTube to get people more involved in drawing. Initiative is a powerful thing and while we are facing a huge problem on a global scale, it offers the opportunity to innovate and find new ways to make life as ordinary as possible for people who might be confined to their houses for the moment. So, what about literature? Social media has a role to play in keeping literature alive and well while we go through this uncertain period. Graphic novelist Dave Hendrick started an initiative on Twitter called #1tweetstory. It promotes stretching your imagination and
asks you to devise a story within the parameters of one tweet. Since social media is so prevalent in life today it is a fantastic way to call for active participation in the world of literature, while also engaging with people on a platform that they are comfortable with. Each day Dave Hendrick tweets one word as the inspiration word for #1tweetstory and participants can tackle different genres of writing while challenging themselves to create a new story in the process. Dave Hendrick spoke to University Express to tell us about his inspiration for starting #1tweetstory; “My writing background is in comics and artists regularly run drawing challenges over social [media], so I thought given we’re all going to have a little more time on our hands with the current situation I’d like to replicate that but from a writing perspective. It’s not by any means aimed at professional writers, it’s for anyone to get involved with and so far, I’ve had doctors, authors, full time parents, salespeople, artists all jump on board. Ultimately, it’s a distraction from the day to day of things right now and if
it helps achieve that I’m happy, it’s certainly done that for me.” We can push and develop our technology to facilitate artistic expression in both an amateur and professional capacity. Apps that many of us use such as Instagram could be used in creative ways to display shows for professional artists, but this can only be a substitute to what is now a dwindling arts industry. The Arts Council is encouraging consumers to buy products from artists as we begin to consume more of the arts as we spend more time indoors. The arts sector is facing a precarious future; however, many institutions have since opened their doors online so people can explore their exhibits from their homes. Through innovation, artists are making their work accessible to the public eye but to do this they need support from their audience. It has given us a glimpse of what the arts sector could be like if it were confined to the online sphere; a completely alternative way of interacting with arts.
Sports
Editor: Jack Maguire
23
UCC: A Year In Sport Writes Sam Curtin, Deputy Sports Editor
The sporting year may have been cut short but it has still been a very successful academic year for UCC sport. In this article we will be looking back at some of the highlights for 2019/20. GAA Nowhere else to start but with the hurlers on what was another fantastic year for the Fitzgibbon cup team. Tom Kingston’s side successfully defended their title defeating the likes NUIG,CIT, DCU and IT Carlow in the final. There was also personal success Shane Kingston who received the player of the tournament award and was named along with five other UCC players on the Electric Ireland Fitzgibbon Cup All Stars team.
to emergence of covid-19 but they will no doubt be more hungry than ever to reach the summit next year.
There was heartbreak unfortunately for the camogie team who were beaten in the Ashbourne Cup final by UL on a scoreline of 3-14 to 0-12. There was no shame in this however as they came up against a truly special side in UL who won their 5th title in a row. Unfortunately for our senior ladies’ football and men’s fresher teams they were unable to complete their campaigns due
Hockey The men’s senior hockey team had another excellent year reaching the Munster Senior Cup final which was due to be played on St. Patricks Day before falling victim to covid-19. The men’s second team were also due to be in action on finals day after reaching the Munster Junior Cup final. Hopefully these games can played at a later date.
Soccer It was another successful year for UCC soccer with the highlight being the J1 men’s team who were crowned Division four champions with a stunning 7-0 victory against Bray Institute FE in the final. They also reached the final of the Crowley cup but unfortunately narrowly missed out on the double losing 5-4 on penalties against Maynooth University.
Rugby The rugby season was cut short unfortunately due to the pandemic but there was still success for the UCC men’s team who won the Donal Walsh Cup after defeating Cork Con 10-3. The women’s senior team also enjoyed an impressive season reaching the semi-finals of the Senior Cup before the season was postponed.
this year included the Relay For Life which was an 18 hour event running from 6pm Friday, March 6th to 12pm Saturday, March 7th. For 18 uninterrupted hours, participants and cancer survivors walked around the Sonia O’Sullivan track in the mardyke in solidarity in the fight against cancer. A very worthy event for a very worthy cause.
Tennis This years intervarsities were held on home soil in Sunday’s Well this year. Our men’s 1st team were unfortunate to miss out on the final battling storm Jorge and DCU, narrowly missing out in a deciding doubles tiebreak. There was some silverware however for the men’s second team who won the plate defeating Trinity seconds in the final.
Overall it was another great year for UCC sport, although not every team or athlete managed to get their moment in the spotlight due to unforeseen circumstances. Sport is such an integral part of UCC and so is the health and wellbeing of students which is the most important thing of all. For those who did not receive their opportunity shine can use this period for reflection and indeed motivation for next year to make sure that 2020/2021 is a year to remember.
Our ladies 1st team reached the semi-final and were unlucky to lose out to Trinity. Other events that took place
24
Sports
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express
Reeling Through The Years: My Sporting Memories Writes Jack Maguire, Sports Editor I hold some very fond sporting memories of the past few years. For every brilliant moment though, there have been several nightmares. Of course in this quiet and difficult time we must dwell on the good times and the sporting events that stood out for good reasons. For me, with soccer being like a religion, it is no surprise that my favourite sporting memories are from the field of play. I have decided to go with 2 occasions, for club and for country. These are moments that are in my top played highlight videos on YouTube, and may or may not bring a tear to my eye. Firstly for country. Irish football, what can I say. It has broken my heart and made me injure myself in celebration, it has made me cry tears of joy and of despair, but at the end of it all, I could not live without it. There are several contenders for the top spot, and it is very hard to pick a standout one. Jonathan Walters brace against Bosnia and Herzegovina to send us through to our second consecutive European Championship, James McClean’s winner against Wales in the play-offs (which I cried after) and Robbie Brady’s goal against Italy in Lille in 2016 to defeat one of the top sides in world football. All beautiful moments that I will never forget. However, the one that I have chosen is the 1-1 draw with Switzerland in the Aviva Stadium last September. A 1-1 draw you may say does not sound exciting, but you could not be more wrong. We held ourselves together for most of the game and pushed up on The Swiss at times. Heartbreak on 74 minutes. A well worked attacking move saw passes from Granit Xhaka and Breel Donald Embolo cut through the Ireland defence, and play Fabian Schar in who calmly slotted into the bottom right corner. As soon as the ball hit the net the Aviva fell silent. It was going to be incredibly hard to get a goal past
the Swiss defence now that they had the lead. If anyone was going to score though, it was going to be us. The 85th minute came along and we were still in search of an equaliser. Another Irish attack was cleared, but only as far as Glenn Whelan who smashed the ball off the bar from around 20 yards out. Mbabu came out of the Swiss backline with the ball but some fantastic defensive tracking back by McClean down the left wing resulted in him winning back possession and turning towards goal. The Derry man sent in a cross which deflected and looped up into the air for what seemed like an eternity. When the ball eventually did descend, it was met by David McGoldricks head on the edge of the six yard box, and the Sheffield United Striker netted the equaliser for The Boys in Green. I rarely celebrated a goal as much as I did that one. I had four Ireland collectors pins in my pocket that repeatedly pricked me in the leg as we fell and danced around the South Stand behind the goal where ‘Didzy’ scored. The reason this game is ranked so high on my list is because at the time, we were doing well in the group, sitting at the top of the pile, and a draw with Switzerland was something to be proud of. Unfortunately some following results went against us, but there and then in the moment I was on top of the world. Of course our quest to make the Euros isn’t over yet due to the play-offs being postponed, but our fingers are certainly crossed. For club, not many compare to Celtic. I have loved the club all my life, and there is no bigger occasion than the Glasgow Derby, with our city neighbours. An Old Firm at Paradise is a particularly amazing spectacle. In such a heated derby, there are so many contenders for the top spot, such as the 5-0 defeat of Rangers in April 2018 and the 5-1
at Ibrox in April 2017. The one I have chosen though is the alternative 5-1 victory over the blue side of Glasgow in Celtic Park in September 2016. It was a momentous occasion because it was the first time the two sides met in the Scottish Premiership since Rangers’ return to the top tier. There was so much weighing on this game with huge bragging rights up for grabs. It took just over half an hour for the deadlock to be broken, and it was The Hoops who hit the net. Celtic taking advantage of Rangers poor defensive organisation, and a corner from Scott Sinclair was headed in by Moussa Dembele. It didn’t even take 10 minutes for The Bhoys to double their lead. Nir Bitton intercepted a sloppy pass by Kiernan, and played a perfectly weighted ball through for Dembele who turned Senderos, and finished into the far corner with the outside of his boot. Garner bundled in a goal for The Gers just before the half time whistle to give them a bit of hope going into the break. 15 minutes after the break, Scotty Sinclair extended the lead. After receiving a wonderful through ball from Dembele, he kept his cool and slid the ball in off the post. Senderos received his marching orders in the 75th minute for a deliberate handball to increase Rangers woes. 7 minutes later Lustig broke down the right wing and swung a cross in that found Dembele who controlled it effortlessly and smashed the ball home to complete a won-
derful hat-trick and make history. Stuart Armstrong added the fifth 10 minutes later after a brilliant low cross from Kieran Tierney. The rout was complete and Celtic had once again asserted their dominance over the local rivals. Sam Curtin: Deputy Sports Editor. It is so difficult to choose my favourite sporting moment. I feel as if that I have been quite lucky to have grown up in the last 20 years as it has coincided with an unprecedented period of Irish sporting success. One day that signifies the modern strides we have made in elite sport is March 21st 2009. What’s so significant about this day? It was the day that Ireland beat Wales in Cardiff to win only our second Grand Slam ever at the time and our first since 1948. On the same night, Bernard Dunne captured the WBA super-bantamweight title at the O2 arena in Dublin (now called 3 Arena). Both events went down to the wire with Ryle Nugent’s commentary going down in Irish folklore as Ronan O’Gara hit a 76th minute drop goal to put Ireland 1715 ahead. The drama wasn’t over however as the match went down to the last kick of the ball when Stephen Jones nearly broke Irish hearts but this long range penalty fell short and Ireland banished the demons of previous missed opportunities. Bernard Dunne then followed this up with a gladiator like performance on home soil later that night surviving
Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020 | University Express two knockdowns to land an 11th round knockout victory against Ricardo Cordoba which was live on RTE like many Irish world title fights were on terrestrial TV. The fact that we had two iconic moments in one night with one of those coming on home soil, March 21st will always live long in the memory for me. Cian McGrath: Byline Editor. I mean, as a huge football fan, there are so many moments that stand out. Cork City winning on penalties against Dundalk in the 2017 Cup final, the only time I’ve ever had a dog in the race for a shootout, was a standout one, but I was watching on television. It would be remiss though to feature this, as I’ve been to so many amazing live football games. I think there are two that stand-out, Ireland 1-0 Germany and Ireland 1-0 Italy. Martin O’Neill’s Ireland team may not have been free-scoring, tiki-taka wizards, but to anyone
who attended his games, there was a real sense of togetherness. That togetherness and camaraderie within the team was infectious and I’ve never known a time that Irish Football Fans were so united in their support. I think the absolute culmination of this came in the Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille on June 22nd 2016. Ireland, needing to beat Antonio Conte’s Italy to qualify, did just that thanks to a late Robbie Brady header. I was lucky enough to be in attendance that night and the atmosphere was indescribable. The roof had been left on due to issues with the pitch, and I’ve never experienced an atmosphere like it. Hopefully we can expect to see more of the same in the coming years under Stephen Kenny’s watch Ciaran Dineen: Editor. The one silver lining about situations like this that we currently find ourselves in is that we are given the chance to think back to better days and relive moments
Sports of ecstasy. It’s not surprising that sport has always filled those moments for me and while there have been many joyous occasions over the years, a select few have a special place in my heart. October 2011 saw me travel with about 1500 other Cork City fans to Tolka Park, the home of Shelbourne Football Club, for a contest that would see one of the two teams lift the First Division title that night. A winner deep into injury time from Graham Cummins sent me three rows down the stand to where I was originally standing and the best part was that I got to share it with my Dad, who had been bringing me to games since 2004. As a Chelsea fan nothing will ever surpass winning the Champions League on that historic night in Munich which seemed to almost be like destiny. But moving away from football I go to moments such as the 2008 Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer, the greatest tennis match ever played bar none. I watched it as an 11 year-old in a bar in Portugal with my mum. As two
25 staunch Rafa fans we lived ever point as if we were in the crowd and were delighted to see him lift the trophy at SW19 that day. Finally a personal moment that progressed over the course of a week. My Dad was due to undergo an operation as part of his cancer treatment in 2017. Every July we would always take part in a golf event in Kerry and he had brought me since I was about 12. That day I won the competition and received a beautiful Waterford crystal vase. As the mic was passed to me to say a few words I couldn’t but help see the tears rolling down my dad’s face, it was an incredibly special moment that we had shared and we both knew why it was particularly poignant. Later that week Cork played Clare in the Munster Final and the rebel renaissance that year continued with Kieran Kingston’s men securing the victory. It topped off a huge week for my family and I as dad faced his own battle just a few days later. Thankfully he came out on top for that too.
University
Volume 24 | Issue 12 | Tuesday 7th April 2020
Sports
UCCExpress.ie
What Does Covid-19 Mean For This Year’s Championship? Writes Sam Curtin, Deputy News Editor Day by day, major events are falling by the wayside due to covid-19. Euro 2020, the Premier League and of course most devastating of all, the Eurovision have succumbed but there has been little news on this year’s All Ireland championships. What do we know so far? It seems as if the league has been written off with the latter rounds left to play in both codes. In the Connacht football championship both Galway’s trip to New York and Roscommon’s trip to London scheduled for May 3rd have been postponed with no rescheduled date set at present. According to the latest updates from the government this pandemic could continue well into the summer which poses a major threat to the GAA season. If a full championship cannot take place in both codes, what are the solutions which have been put forward to salvage this season? The reintroduction of a knockout championship for the first time since 1996 in hurling and 2000 in football has garnered a lot of support from fans and pundits
alike including Kerry legend Pat Spillane and Donal Óg Cusack. Who would be the biggest losers in a knockout format? The Cork footballers would arguably be the biggest with their promotion already looking unlikely as the league is set to be discarded for this season. This means that they must beat Kerry in the first round of the Munster championship or face a short summer, the alternative is to gear up for the new tier two championship- the Tailteann Cup which is also in doubt due to the expected shorter timeframe for the championship to be completed. Munster would again be the hardest hit if a traditional knockout format was introduced in hurling. All five counties have realistic ambitions of contending for Liam McCarthy. Cork are due to face Limerick in Pairc Uí Chaoimh on the 10th of May in the first round of the round robin series. All Ireland champions Tipperary are due to face Waterford on the same day. The question is do these fixtures become the draw for the 1st round of the Munster championship with Clare receiving a bye into the semis or does another open draw take place for
both provinces? The fans would also be robbed of some brilliant games on a weekly basis although the cut-throat nature of knockout hurling would surely ensure full houses in both codes at stadiums across the country. This would be one advantage along with giving the so called ‘weaker counties’ a chance of pulling off an upset in the early rounds without the danger of the heavyweights being able to regain momentum through the qualifiers and ultimately getting themselves back into the latter stages of the championship. 8-time All-Ireland medal winner Spillane agrees saying that “back doors and round robins and super 8’s favour the strong teams, because you might catch a strong county once, but you rarely catch them a second time.” This surely applies to six in a row chasing Dublin who are under new leadership in Dessie Farrell and appear to be going through a minor period of transition and 2020 could be the year where they finally get reeled in. It would also suit the likes of Mayo who have an ageing team and thrive on do or die knockout
games especially in recent years coming through the back door. This is an important point to make as the football championship in particular has become predictable in recent years and with the introduction of the super 8’s this has been highlighted even further. As has already been mentioned Cork vs Kerry is a massive game in its own right but under knockout format it becomes colossal. Donegal vs Tyrone in Ulster would also be a great occasion at a full house in Ballybofey. Imagine having two favourites for Sam Maguire being knocked out before June? Ultimately what we all want is a championship in some shape or form this year and with nearly every major sporting event being postponed until next year it could benefit the GAA hugely with its games being the only show in town this summer. It should see larger crowds and the wider Irish public showing true appreciation for our sport in what could be a fascinating summer ahead. Sometimes you only have to look on the bright side to the light at the end of the tunnel. Stay safe.