IN THE CROKE Park press box, there are no colours but that does not mean that those who sit on the good seats are still of heart when their own are playing in an All-Ireland final.
When the final whistle blows, good manners rather than protocol dictates that journalists from the winning county are offered a congratulatory hand, while those from the losing one are offered the sympathetic one.
This column has received both on more than one occasion over the years, but, in a week when that game has invited many recollections, it is the post-match courtesies from the 2006 All-Ireland final which stand out.
Afterwards as we huddled for the post-match press briefing, we bumped into a Mayo friend and colleague but, in a regretful move, we hammed up our caring side.
‘I didn’t want to see that happen to ye,’ I whispered, but he stared right back to let us know that all he could see was a Kerryman doing a well-concealed jig.
Naturally, he has used it against us ever since, once proclaiming he has left instructions in the event of he being the focal point of a real funeral rather than a sporting one, that we are to be banned from the wake house lest we seek to console his loved ones with “I didn’t want to see that happen to him.”
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Thing is, had that been a Cork, Dublin, Galway or Donegal colleague, we would have settled for a completely disingenuous “hard luck”, but when it comes to Mayo, there is almost a duty to go the extra mile, both before and after.
Mayo's Ronan McGarrity and Kerry's Darragh Ó Sé in action in the 2006 All-Ireland final. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
That is why, despite a football summer that has thrilled us like nothing before, we are being asked to view Sunday’s final through the lens of all the finals that have gone before.
Or at least the last 12 Mayo have reached and not won.
Anticipation
In doing so, it is not that we are just grossly underestimating Mayo but we are missing out on the anticipation of a final layered with so many questions, so many possibilities, so many compelling clashes, both man on man and whiteboard on whiteboard.
Mayo, the team who have scored more two-pointers (28) than any other are facing a Kerry defence that has taken heat for sacrificing aggression outside the arc for structure inside it – in the process conceding 22 double your value points – but, sure, in 1997 they started an unfit Dermot Flanagan against Kerry , and when he went off early they had to change every line on the team to accommodate his replacement.
It is supposed to be a game of kick-outs, but Mayo have reached Sunday’s final in defiance of that by winning back-to-back games with a lower percentage success against Cork and Louth. Yet anyhow, let’s get to the nub of what really matters, which was Dermot Geraghty marking Colm Cooper in the 2004 final was just an accident waiting to happen.
Colm Cooper celebrates scoring a goal for Kerry in the 2004 All-Ireland final. INPHO
INPHO
Mayo have shown there is more to the outcome of the game than numbers posted from the kicking tees because their calling card all season has been a ferocious high press that has seen them become turnover specialists.
Kerry have looked more than a tad vulnerable, not least against Tyrone and Dublin, on that front. Again that is not really relevant, but the decision to leave David Brady on the bench for the start of the 2006 final most certainly was.
Mayo have reached the final with the hottest inside forward unit in the game – their inside trio has outscored Kerry’s by eight points in the last two games but never mind looking at that, and instead consider the primary reason that Mayo could never take down Dublin in those nail-biting deciders was their absence of marquee forwards.
Darragh Beirne celebrates his goal for Mayo against Louth in the All-Ireland semi-final. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
After a disastrous Connacht semi-final against Roscommon in which their backs were in a heap, the foundation for their remarkable mid-summer turnaround has been a transformed defence led by Enda Hession, who has the cut of being the perfect shadow for Paudie Clifford, but never mind that, do you remember when they dropped David Clarke for the 2016 replay?
Brand New
And this is a brand-new team with only two likely starting survivors from their last final defeat against Tyrone, but don’t heed that, Mayo are Mayo after all, condemned to repeat the failures of the past, irrespective of who fills their jersey.
It may well be that this final rolls as the masses perceive it and the market has priced it.
Losing the kick-outs to Cork and Louth is one thing, but doing so against Kerry whose capacity to weaponise possession is beyond doubt is quite another.
Mayo can press high and win the turnover battle, but it could gift wrap Kerry winning the war because if they break the line, there will be a heavy price to be paid for doing so.
Enda Hession might shadow Paudie Clifford, but who puts the shackles on Seanie O’Shea and Dylan Geaney, Kerry’s alternate puppet masters? And we have not even got around to mentioning the great one.
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Dylan Geaney in action for Kerry against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
All of that may come to pass but we owe this football summer the gratitude and the respect to acknowledge what has made it great has been its unrelenting capacity to titillate and thrill, to make the unexpected happen.
We can only do that by seeing Sunday as this glorious crazy year’s finale, not some tired sequel from a past that has no relevance.
And if up on Level Seven in the Croke Park press box on Sunday evening, someone ends up whispering into a colleague’s ear, “I didn’t see that happening”, well, it might be because we were not looking.
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Kerry-Mayo must be seen as this glorious year’s finale, not some tired sequel from the past
IN THE CROKE Park press box, there are no colours but that does not mean that those who sit on the good seats are still of heart when their own are playing in an All-Ireland final.
When the final whistle blows, good manners rather than protocol dictates that journalists from the winning county are offered a congratulatory hand, while those from the losing one are offered the sympathetic one.
This column has received both on more than one occasion over the years, but, in a week when that game has invited many recollections, it is the post-match courtesies from the 2006 All-Ireland final which stand out.
Afterwards as we huddled for the post-match press briefing, we bumped into a Mayo friend and colleague but, in a regretful move, we hammed up our caring side.
‘I didn’t want to see that happen to ye,’ I whispered, but he stared right back to let us know that all he could see was a Kerryman doing a well-concealed jig.
Naturally, he has used it against us ever since, once proclaiming he has left instructions in the event of he being the focal point of a real funeral rather than a sporting one, that we are to be banned from the wake house lest we seek to console his loved ones with “I didn’t want to see that happen to him.”
Thing is, had that been a Cork, Dublin, Galway or Donegal colleague, we would have settled for a completely disingenuous “hard luck”, but when it comes to Mayo, there is almost a duty to go the extra mile, both before and after.
That is why, despite a football summer that has thrilled us like nothing before, we are being asked to view Sunday’s final through the lens of all the finals that have gone before.
Or at least the last 12 Mayo have reached and not won.
Anticipation
In doing so, it is not that we are just grossly underestimating Mayo but we are missing out on the anticipation of a final layered with so many questions, so many possibilities, so many compelling clashes, both man on man and whiteboard on whiteboard.
Mayo, the team who have scored more two-pointers (28) than any other are facing a Kerry defence that has taken heat for sacrificing aggression outside the arc for structure inside it – in the process conceding 22 double your value points – but, sure, in 1997 they started an unfit Dermot Flanagan against Kerry , and when he went off early they had to change every line on the team to accommodate his replacement.
It is supposed to be a game of kick-outs, but Mayo have reached Sunday’s final in defiance of that by winning back-to-back games with a lower percentage success against Cork and Louth. Yet anyhow, let’s get to the nub of what really matters, which was Dermot Geraghty marking Colm Cooper in the 2004 final was just an accident waiting to happen.
Mayo have shown there is more to the outcome of the game than numbers posted from the kicking tees because their calling card all season has been a ferocious high press that has seen them become turnover specialists.
Kerry have looked more than a tad vulnerable, not least against Tyrone and Dublin, on that front. Again that is not really relevant, but the decision to leave David Brady on the bench for the start of the 2006 final most certainly was.
Mayo have reached the final with the hottest inside forward unit in the game – their inside trio has outscored Kerry’s by eight points in the last two games but never mind looking at that, and instead consider the primary reason that Mayo could never take down Dublin in those nail-biting deciders was their absence of marquee forwards.
After a disastrous Connacht semi-final against Roscommon in which their backs were in a heap, the foundation for their remarkable mid-summer turnaround has been a transformed defence led by Enda Hession, who has the cut of being the perfect shadow for Paudie Clifford, but never mind that, do you remember when they dropped David Clarke for the 2016 replay?
Brand New
And this is a brand-new team with only two likely starting survivors from their last final defeat against Tyrone, but don’t heed that, Mayo are Mayo after all, condemned to repeat the failures of the past, irrespective of who fills their jersey.
It may well be that this final rolls as the masses perceive it and the market has priced it.
Losing the kick-outs to Cork and Louth is one thing, but doing so against Kerry whose capacity to weaponise possession is beyond doubt is quite another.
Mayo can press high and win the turnover battle, but it could gift wrap Kerry winning the war because if they break the line, there will be a heavy price to be paid for doing so.
Enda Hession might shadow Paudie Clifford, but who puts the shackles on Seanie O’Shea and Dylan Geaney, Kerry’s alternate puppet masters? And we have not even got around to mentioning the great one.
All of that may come to pass but we owe this football summer the gratitude and the respect to acknowledge what has made it great has been its unrelenting capacity to titillate and thrill, to make the unexpected happen.
We can only do that by seeing Sunday as this glorious crazy year’s finale, not some tired sequel from a past that has no relevance.
And if up on Level Seven in the Croke Park press box on Sunday evening, someone ends up whispering into a colleague’s ear, “I didn’t see that happening”, well, it might be because we were not looking.
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Chasing Sam GAA Kerry Mayo