Involuntary yelp

Sir, – Michael Harding would break your heart sometimes ("Ireland was fertile ground for the involuntary yelp", June 8th). To that anxious yelp, I would add the awkward, stifled little leap GAA players of Michael's youth would give in celebration of a goal. Together they seemed to be the only poor excuses for exuberance allowed in those suffocating times. We've come a long way but that buttoned-up generation still bear the scars. – Yours, etc,

JOHN O’DONOVAN,

Dublin 6.