THERE WAS NO doubt the better team won at Croke Park this afternoon but you’ve got to feel for Mayo. Year after year, they’re the bridesmaids and never the bride.
But after a farcical few days, football was the winner. Both teams went at it hard in-front of a full house at HQ. This is what the GAA is all about and not the sideshow that we’ve seen develop over the last week.
Managers will always talk about controlling the controllables, particularly in a big game such as the All-Ireland semi-final, but it appeared no one was in control or charge this week.
We talk about the GAA being only amateur in name but the way we conduct and govern the game at an organisational level remains most definetly amateur.
What happens on the pitch and in the build-up to games is almost certainly professional but the last few days have shown the amateur side of the game and it was just farcical.
For Diarmuid Connolly not to know until 3am on Saturday morning – the day of the game – whether he was going to be able to play or not is just scarcely believable.
However, the football did the talking and it went a long way to renewing our faith in the game after a ridiculous situation.
For the vast majority of the contest at Croke Park, it was nip and tuck. It was a fantastic game with a couple of brilliant goals and there was an intensity about it from start to finish.
All the talk last Sunday revolved around the off-the-ball incidents and the actions of certain individuals. The drawn game was helter skelter, frenetic and didn’t contain a lot of quality football.
This time around, it was a spectacle befitting of the occasion and for the neutral, it’s what you wanted to see.
To be fair, it was a lot cleaner than I, and many, expected. Given it was only six days between the games, there was an expectation that there would be very spicy and a bit of niggle about but there was none of that.
Perhaps the criticism, which was levelled mostly at Dublin, changed their attitude. Maybe Jim Gavin’s side were too worked up for the first game. They hadn’t received a real test of their credentials and they knew they needed to up their game.
We saw players not normally associated with such antics become embroiled in controversy but on this occasion they played hard but fair.
And ultimately Dublin had too much in their locker.
They got a bit of luck but that’s often needed on the big stage when the stakes are so high.
Yet you make your own luck. After falling behind early in the second-half, they responsed like very few other sides could.
Brian Fenton dragged his side across the goal and Bernard Brogan was there like the poacher he is to divert home. He doesn’t find himself in those positions by chance and he deserves huge credit.
Brogan is playing the football of his career and the rest of the Dubs are feeding off him.
Philly McMahon could have scored more than the one goal he did and when they moved through the gears, Mayo had no answer.
We’ve seen it all year – Dublin’s killer instinct. Once they scent a smell of blood, they’ll punish you like no other team and this year we’ve seen that ruthless streak against Longford and Kildare.
That 15 minute period in the second-half was undoubtedly the game’s decesive one. Mayo had tried to get a lot of ball to Aidan O’Shea and while he won a certain advantage, they found themselves losing possession too easily and in a tight game, you can’t afford to do that.
And once they had to chase the game, their race was run. They looked a bit jaded and when Dublin were in full flight, they looked to have an extra man on the pitch.
I just felt after Brogan’s goal that if Mayo had have kept possession, won their own ball and got the next score, they had a chance to settle but the ball kept coming back at them and the game was gone in the blink of an eye.
Mayo once again fell short but it was another courageous effort from them and unfortunaltely it just wasn’t their day. But it sets up a cracker of an All-Ireland final.
The traditionalists love to see a Dublin-Kerry showdown and let’s be honest, they’re the two best teams in the country. Today was pure football and a great spectacle. It was tough but had that intensity and pulsating nature you’d expect at this stage of the summer.
It all means there’s an intriguing game around the corner. Kerry will go in as slight favourites and the Kingdom would have learned a great deal from watching Dublin over the last two weekends.
But it’s so hard to call.
Dublin against Kerry is what the GAA is all about and after a week when the game was widely criticised for the way it handled the Diarmuid Connolly situation, it was a timely reminder of what really matters and why we love the game.
If your own county isn’t there, you want to see the two best teams go head-to-head on the biggest day of the calendar and that’s what we’ve got. Sunday 20 September can’t come quickly enough.
As a dubs fan I’d like to thank Mayo for bringing a great game to the 82,000 in Croker today, their fans were great and if we had suffered defeat today I would of loved to see the bridesmaids lift Sam despite last weeks controversial game
It quite around here. Culchies must be milking the cows. I’m sure they’ll except the best team won
Ron. As a proud culchie, the best team did win, and I hope dublin win against Kerry. The vast majority of dublin fans are true blue and brilliant, but please, do myself and everyone else a favour and don’t rob a real fan of the chance of a ticket, I’ve seen your comments on here the last while and you clearly know absolutely nothing about football. Dublin have some of the greatest fans in the country, so please don’t bring your negative, victimised attitude there in two weeks, because it would only ruin things for the real fans. Good luck dublin!
Well said
all it reminded me is that there is no consistency in the rules and ridiculous cards, and how do you get the job Waving the flag beside the goal.
milking cows and making serious money at it u clown,have u never drank milk?bet ur glad of it for your coffee tea or cerial,culchies are real people ,ur welcome to all the junkies and wasters and dole heads in dublin ,jog on u idiot
Ya Ron. They’re probably milking cows alright. You should probably consider doing something productive on a lovely Sunday morning too such as learning the difference between quite and quiet.
Yeah what ever Paddy, I’m lactose intolerant. Jog in your self.
Stupid comment
it’s “Jog on” Ron. I’d just give it a rest if I were you.
Well done, you spotted my typo. It’s because my fingers are so puggy, I should probably mash the key pad to order a special dialing wand.
guess what paddy your just the same as Ron with your stereotype opinion. there’s good and bad everywhere
Back to the game….nice analysis by the author. As a Dublin fan I was on the edge of my seat and didn’t relax until SuperMac scored their third goal. Mayo have been one of the most consistent teams in the country this decade, I honestly feel for them, great players and great fans (apart from Enda ! ).
Except?
As a proud sports fan I’d like to say that GAA football is brooootal.
The outcome was that football won on the day.great game..
Best article all day.
Up the Dubs
Agreed
Great game today!!! The better side won. Hard luck to Mayo. They showed true passion and should be proud of themselves.
Well done Mayo just fell short again. Great match by real men . Ronaldo and all the other fairy’s should be sent a video of what real physical sport is . Up the DUBS. And Pat Spillane go kiss me hole !
yeah wally and I’m sure ronaldo will see the light ! bit of diving has krept in to gaa foot ball as well. Ronaldo scores 50 goals a season for real Madrid I think he’ll be ok !
Of course it has crept in. Sure there all using gum shields. Ronaldina won’t need them. It’s a tutu he needs or his Mammys nipple. And his days of scoring 50 a season are finished. Your aware Rafa Benitez is now Madrid manager/destroyer
Farcical as right , how Connolly was allowed to play was a joke…Mayo should lodge an appeal … Less than 15 hrs before kick off Connollys ban was overturned … Would not be allowed to happen in any other sport…
look it made no difference at the end of the day. Connolly was ineffectual today so its. moot point kid.
Lad, Connolly didn’t even feature in that game. Get over yourself. Gimp.
Whinger.
Paul would you like some sandwiches with those sour grapes?
Dublin are not a bad team but they will hav to improve a lot if they hav any hope what so ever of winning the final oh and i would like to thank all the people who attended the match today and for ur good behaviour u are all wonderful honest hardworkin people.God bless
Ref excellent today and thank god for that. Could not stomach another joe mc quillan who I always said was the no 1 worst ref in Ireland. Period. Padraig hughes the next. Well done to both teams today on providing good open football and look forward to a great final.
What game were you watching. He tried his best to disallow the second Dublin goal. They won in spite of the ref
and if he didn’t consult the umpires everybody would scream blue murder ! give the man a break , he was excellent !
mayo for sandwich,s…
Learn how to spell Mary.
No let us dubs work on burying another mayo man and team called Enda and Fine Gael
Time up Get out of Dublin
hard luck to Mayo alright, but on a different lev…it reminded us what GAA is all about alright : cheating, on – pitch thuggery, and even when you break every rule in the book, someone will find a way to get you off. Appeals upon appeals. Rules and refs have no meaning. I can’t think of a single redeeming feature of this ‘sport’, and certainly not for values to give to children.
John, you’re an eejit. That is not in any way reflective of the game in Croke Park today but rather, I fear, a figment of your overactive and somewhat biased imagination. #COYBIB
@John Clarke – the game today stood on its own. But getting the game on the pitch after the last week shows that at the end of the day it’s win at any cost that matters to the GAA. Sportsmanship, respect for rules, for officials on the pitch administering those rules – counts for nought.
Whinger, scarlet for you.
..@Ron – don’t take my word for it – read the last 3 words from the GAA own website today – the ones in the GAA Live box – ” blow by blow”. QED methinks when their PR and media people think that vernacular fits. … https://www.dropbox.com/s/esguo1d4x0668ya/Screenshot_2015-09-06-13-17-56.png?dl=0
Always the bridesmaids??? Some folk are destined to be single. …….
They’ll win one soon. But if they do beat the Dubs on the way they shouldn’t goalt because the Dubs have owned then for the last few years
It’s still a rubbish sport that will never catch on outside of Ireland. Irish people only have an interest in it because it’s part of our culture, unfortunately.
How very dare you…
You are a gimp
You’re not allowed to use “our culture” any more, period.
You’re a silly human
Good game for a long time until Dublin class off the bench shone thru ! I hope tho that people don’t forget the farce that was last week , the DRA will post their reasons for the desicion in 2 weeks , hoping no doubt that the ordinary fan will have forgotten about the connolly saga by then ! There needs to be a huge change in the disiplinary procedure because if there isn’t it’s going to drive alot of the better more skillfull players out of the game ! I’m not blaming connolly as such , sh×t happens during a game but there have to be consequences ! I’ve heard that of the last 8 people to get sent off in an all Ireland semi final , 8 have appealed and 7 have won ! who would be a ref !!!
We know what GAA is about. Parochial muck weasels and their tractors.
Gimp
Hurling is a bruising, sometimes bloody sport. In the Middle Ages the English banned the Irish from playing the game but in more recent times it has experienced a resurgence. On Sunday, a nation will be transfixed as Kilkenny and Galway fight it out in the All-Ireland final.
To its disciples, hurling is as much a sacred cultural jewel as it is a sport, the finals are epics which unveil or confirm the nation’s sporting heroes. It’s a fusion of legend and history – from mythology when the boy hero Setanta faced two teams on his own and won, to the modern game developed in the 1880s by the Gaelic Athletic Association to help rally Ireland’s youth in the drive for independence a century ago.
Trying to describe hurling in words is a bit like attempting to explain a performance at the Bolshoi Theatre to someone who’s never seen ballet, but I’ll try. Fifteen men on each side lash a small cork and leather ball, or sliotar, distances of up to 100m with ash sticks, on a pitch a bit bigger than a soccer or rugby field.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34151761
the jacks are back,super dubs unbeatable
mayo never learn.every chance they got still lumping ball into o Shea..didn’t work first game or second…forwards not good enough….Dublin showed class in the end..seamus o Shea shuda seen red for dragging cooper.if was connolly would b court case…
All going to end in tears for the poor Dubs- Sam knows it’s home is in Kerry and Croke Park is more of a home Game for Kerry anyhow! ;-)
In fairness Mayo done well, Dublin have a bigger pool to pick from …
Lost interest years ago when the hand passing was allowed. Still suffering from the shock!
whats your thoughts on the ref ????
He was a C U Next Tuesday
He was ok in the main.
Name a number of specific instances in which you believe he erred in his role?
Heard he had a bit of a rep to be trigger happy with whistles and cards before the game. In fairness, he allowed the things to flow, intervened where needed, and given the pace, I don’t think he really made a bad decision. Refs rarely get praise but he deserves some credit. A good ref can make or break a game.
I thought he was a culchie.
He did well and the players helped him by cutting out the dirt and playing football … but umpires still don’t do enough for me. O’Connors goal looked suspect which isn’t a moan because he’s excellent. Well done both teams for giving us what we wanted and we’ll done Ref for not trying to be the star
I love the Gaa sports, the problem is the concept of the GAA does not make sense in the world of modern sports. Change or be overcome
The 160,000 + who roared their lungs dry at the 2 games this week obviously disagree
Hon the kingdom
all the comments on here cos mayo lost a match, you would think they’d be better losers by now
whats the thoughts on the ref result aside ???
He was entirely effective, unbiased and fair.
He was okay, missed a blatant foul on the ball by o’connor for the mayo goal, an obvious free out. Thankfully it didn’t matter in the end.
Hard for him to spot but the umpires need to step up to the plate … otherwise why are they there … good player that O’Connor though … very cool head … over the 2 games Mayo would’ve been lost without him.
Sorry Johnny wants scarcely believable is the fact that he was allowed to play. What’s farcical is that he was allowed to appeal an appeal. The GAA should be ashamed of them selves!
Maybe if the GAA pumped as much money into smaller counties like they have been doing with Dublin. It might be a more level playing field. As it stands it’s farcical..