NOW that Oisin Murphy has pleaded guilty to a charge of drink driving at Reading Magistrates Court, we no longer have to tiptoe around the subject for fear of influencing a subsequent legal case. Discussion of such cases is always fraught with danger, so there is at least one positive to come from this sorry affair in that it won’t be dragged out needlessly.

There are two sides regarding the reaction to a story which has been developing for some time, with the racing rumour mill quick to link Murphy to a report of a driver being arrested after a crash and refusing to give a roadside alcohol test. For better or worse, lurid details of the incident were all over social media but never acknowledged publicly.