THE COUNTRY’S TWO best sides go head to head at Croke Park this Sunday and have enjoyed successful summer’s to date.
Here are some of the best quotes to come from both camps this championship summer.
Dublin
2 June: Dubs goalscorer Paddy Andrews after the victory over Westmeath
“Confidence is high after winning the National League. Winning becomes a habit and there’s no harm to keep that rolling and keep the momentum going.”
14 June: Ciaran Kilkenny responds to Jack O’Shea’s description of him as ‘a junior footballer’
“I suppose he hadn’t seen me play much, really, but he’s a legend of the game and if he could come back and tell me I’d like to listen to him. You just take stuff like that in your stride all the time as an inter-county footballer. It could be from your Dad, it could be from your manager. Listen to them, take it on board, see can you improve your game.”
18 July: Bernard Brogan is happy to share the limelight with Dublin’s rising stars
“For a long time you guys would have asked me can Dublin win an All-Ireland without me playing well or me scoring seven points a game. The lads answered that this year all year.”
4 August: Jim Gavin reflects on his side’s win over Cork
“My mantra is to keep creating chances and to keep composure and patience. That is what they did against a very good Cork side. They have shown themselves to be very strong in the last quarter of games, but in fairness to our guys they kept at it.”
30 August: Ger Brennan was not unduly concerned with facing Colm Cooper in the semi-final. ‘Gooch’ would go on to score 0-4.
“[Kerry] have such a strong forward-line and they’re all such skillful players that I’d say they might mix it around. They may inter-change which they’ve done before as well, so we’ll just prepare for every eventuality as best as possible. But we won’t get overly caught up with them either.”
1 September: Jim Gavin on the ‘ebbs and flows’ of conceding three early goals to Kerry
There’s great resolve and determination and willingness never to quit in this team… We just need to keep at it and keep to the gameplan and even at half-time there was no sense of panic; it was very calm actually and focused.”
17 September: Bryan Cullen on his ‘See yiz in Coppers’ comment in 2011
“Since I’ve been involved with Dublin we go back there and we’re either celebrating or drowning our sorrows. I suppose it’s the first thing that came into my head after winning the All-Ireland, that we were going to be partying for a while.”
Credit: rte
Mayo
19 May: Alan Dillon sets out a goalscoring agenda for the months ahead
“If you create enough [chances], goals will come. It’s important that you do if you want to progress during the summer. We got four goals against Galway and that’s an impressive return.”
21 July: Three Connacht titles in a row but James Horan was not happy after dismissing London
“How we played today, by the standards we are trying to play to, we were very poor. We were poor in the basics of the game; skill execution, the timing of the pass, shots to take… I’m sure there won’t be too many people worried about us after watching that game today.”
4 August: James Horan is almost satisfied after beating Donegal by 16 points
“We ran out of juice a little bit in the last 10 minutes and conceded a goal, which was disappointing, but, overall, we’re delighted with today, how we played and the leadership that a lot of guys showed.”
21 August: Andy Moran on how last year’s All-Ireland loss to Donegal proved a massive learning curve
Moran celebrates his goal against Galway. INPHO/James Crombie
“Yes, we lost the All-Ireland and it was another All-Ireland that we lost but we lost it fighting and that’s the key thing. This was at the start of a lot of boys’ careers — our average age is 23-24. So it was important that the guys fought back like that and it’s very important for the stage we’re coming to now.”
22 August: After notching hat-tricks against London and Donegal, Cillian O’Connor is asked when was the last time he hit three goals in a game
“You would have to go back to my U12 days.”
25 August: Midfielder Aidan O’Shea immediately focuses on the final after overcoming Tyrone
“Look, we’ll knuckle down, we’ve a session in the morning and training on Wednesday so we’ll get back to work.”
14 September: Aidan O’Shea on avoiding the hype of another All-Ireland final
I have people who have no interest in football so I can chill out with them and they won’t even ask the question you won’t block out all the hype, it’s not possible. Some guys hide but I take it as it comes. If there’s someone I don’t want to talk to I won’t answer the phone. If there’s someone on the street I just pretend to answer the phone.”
*All quotes are from interviews carried out with TheScore.ie and RTÉ Television.
What was your favourite Dublin or Mayo quote from this year’s championship?
