The tournament, the nation’s bid to join the global sporting big time, has been a passing disaster for the city’s cultural institutions, which for ages have supported the local economy and given Vienna its glorious, albeit somewhat undeservedly, antimacassared reputation.

I have noticed all these, and some at a much earlier date than the first faint lisping of a timid katydid; and all such sights and sounds are similarly suggestive—the summer is drawing to its close.

a tooth-and-nail battle

Remarkable Paul O'Donovan deserves to take his place among the elite names in Irish sport.