THE THING THAT strikes you immediately when you fire up the YouTube for a look at the 2004 All-Ireland final – apart from the sight of elderly gentlemen in suits which you just don’t get now at games – is that Mayo didn’t start the game too badly.
Until things swerved off course.
‘A deplorable first half’ – Liam McHale’s assessment on the sideline at the break, by which time Kerry were ahead 1-12 to 1-4.
“Colm O’Rourke,” said the late Michael Lyster when they flashed back to the RTÉ studio, “We’re looking at a murder scene?”
Gambled
Within the Kerry camp, the young manager in his first season, Jack O’Connor, had gambled on something. He felt that the Mayo full-forward line of the Mortimer brothers, Conor and Trevor, and Brian Maloney weren’t exactly giants.
As a result, their in-house games wouldn’t feature too many high balls being sent in to test the full-back line of Dermot Geraghty, David Heaney and Gary Ruane.
He also would have noticed the damage that Fermanagh full-forward Stephen Maguire was able to cause across the semi-final and replay on Heaney.
So he made a brave call. He dropped Mike Frank Russell and put in the more robust but less silky Johnny Crowley.
Johnny Crowley and Gary Ruane under a dropping ball in the 2004 final. INPHO
INPHO
The first high ball went in from Declan O’Sullivan, but Heaney cut it out. From that turnover, Trevor Mortimer mugged Mike McCarthy close to the Cusack Stand side. He squared the ball, and it fell kindly to Alan Dillon to round Diarmuid Murphy and slot to the net to make it 1-1 to 0-2 with four and a half minutes played.
Talking this week, then Kerry captain Dara Ó Cinneide recalled that moment, saying the noise that greeted it actually gave him a serious pain in his head and he had to hold his hands over his ears to drown it out.
However, it became apparent as the half wore on, that Mayo were caught in the headlights. Conor Mortimer, source of many of their scores that year, barely touched the ball, fumbling it once and touching the ball on the ground another.
Under the kickout, they were bullied. So many of their short hand-passes were cut out by a reaching Kerry grasp. In every facet, they were bullied.
A dejected Mayo fan after their All-Ireland final defeat. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
In the first quarter, seven high balls were sent into the Kerry full-forward line of Colm Cooper, Dara Ó Cinneide and Johnny Crowley. So many of them were uncontested. Six points were mined from the seven balls.
Soon, Mayo were in panic mode. They completely rejigged their defence and moved Pat Kelly from wing-back to mark Cooper. Gulp.
On 25 minutes, Éamonn Fitzmaurice glanced up with a free and lashed it as hard as he could. Cooper sprung two yards above Kelly. One-handed he got around the outside and cut inside.
A basketball hop took the retreating Gary Ruane out of the picture and Cooper kept his head to slot coolly past Peter Burke in the Mayo goals.
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It remains one of the Cooper’s favourite goals, because of the range of skills on display.
At the break, some Mayo fans headed for the gate. They had seen enough.
2006 final
Onto the decider two years later then, and yes, we must.
The reinstated Mike Frank Russell opened the scoring with points from play and off the deck. And then came the deluge.
A high ball in was caught by Cooper. He played to Declan O’Sullivan who exchanged passes with Kieran Donaghy to blast to the net.
From the next play, another high ball was fielded in front of goal by Donaghy who held off David Heaney to send his shot high into the net. 2-2 to 0-0. Eight minutes gone.
Kerry's Kieran Donaghy celebrates his goal against Mayo. Donall Farmer / INPHO
Donall Farmer / INPHO / INPHO
David Brady was readied and came on for James Nallen, making immediately for Donaghy. As he would remark a few years later, he was ‘sent in to look for survivors.’
The first battle he won, Mayo got it down the field and turned it into a Kevin O’Neill goal. “Hold the obituary,” Ger Canning exclaimed on RTÉ.
As it happens, Brady would win the next three balls in towards Donaghy. But Mayo’s movement up top was so awful that defenders coming out with the ball had nothing to aim for. There’s a mini-industry in berating Mayo teams, but this has to be watched back to be believed just how much they had gone into their shells.
A David Heaney pass upfield was cut out by Mike McCarthy. A high ball went in that was allowed to bounce and Cooper was sent through. His shot was deflected by David Clarke onto the post, but Cooper had time to gather and punch home at the second attempt.
Kerry won by 13 points, the largest winning margin in an All-Ireland final since 1978.
Dejected Mayo fans. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
So what does this all have to do with the pairing this Sunday?
And the answer is, nothing, really.
The arrival of James Horan brought a different attitude to Mayo teams that haS by and large been carried through. They became bad-asses themselves and recruited high-energy backs and aggressive forwards.
You can expand the question and ask what the All-Ireland final failings of 2012-13, 2016-17, and 2020-21 have to do with the present group.
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Former Mayo boss James Horan. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
This topic was expanded upon this week 0n The 42 GAA Weekly Podcast. Host Ronan Early drew a high-minded comparison with The Ship of Theseus paradox.
An ancient Greek thought experiment, it asks if an object (the Mayo football team) is the same if the component parts (players) are replaced over time.
The ship in question was a trusty vessel that returned to Crete and was retained for considerable time. The ravages of time would rot the planks, and they would be replaced. But at what point in the course of the replacement of planks does it become something else?
Mayo have retained some component parts. It would be a clumsy reference indeed to refer to Andy Moran, Colm Boyle, Keith Higgins, Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor and Rob Hennelly as old planks, but you get our drift.
Yet, they set sail this weekend as a different vessel.
If the sacred contract between Mayo fans and their team appeared broken after the 2021 All-Ireland defeat to Tyrone, a game they never quite got to the pitch of, then it felt like all was well again after they beat Louth in the recent semi-final.
And here are the numbers. From the team that started the 2021 final, who also started against Louth, there’s only Stephen Coen and Ryan O’Donoghue still standing.
Players who started against Louth but came on in the 2021 final were Enda Hession and Jordan Flynn.
Mayo's Enda Hession. Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO
Tom O’Hanlon / INPHO / INPHO
Starters from the 2021 final who came on against Louth – Matthew Ruane, Conor Loftus and Tommy Conroy.
That leaves Rob Hennelly, Paddy Durcan, Diarmuid and Cillian O’Connor, Aidan O’Shea and James Carr who are all still on the current panel.
Depending on last-minute changes, there will be around 10 or 11 All-Ireland final debutants for Mayo this Sunday.
Does that give them a certain fearlessness? Or does Kerry’s vast experience of finals count for too much?
Either way, a collapse like 2004 and 2006 would be too much to take.
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Trigger's Broom or the Ship of Theseus - what do Mayo's past failings mean now?
THE THING THAT strikes you immediately when you fire up the YouTube for a look at the 2004 All-Ireland final – apart from the sight of elderly gentlemen in suits which you just don’t get now at games – is that Mayo didn’t start the game too badly.
Until things swerved off course.
‘A deplorable first half’ – Liam McHale’s assessment on the sideline at the break, by which time Kerry were ahead 1-12 to 1-4.
Gambled
Within the Kerry camp, the young manager in his first season, Jack O’Connor, had gambled on something. He felt that the Mayo full-forward line of the Mortimer brothers, Conor and Trevor, and Brian Maloney weren’t exactly giants.
As a result, their in-house games wouldn’t feature too many high balls being sent in to test the full-back line of Dermot Geraghty, David Heaney and Gary Ruane.
He also would have noticed the damage that Fermanagh full-forward Stephen Maguire was able to cause across the semi-final and replay on Heaney.
So he made a brave call. He dropped Mike Frank Russell and put in the more robust but less silky Johnny Crowley.
The first high ball went in from Declan O’Sullivan, but Heaney cut it out. From that turnover, Trevor Mortimer mugged Mike McCarthy close to the Cusack Stand side. He squared the ball, and it fell kindly to Alan Dillon to round Diarmuid Murphy and slot to the net to make it 1-1 to 0-2 with four and a half minutes played.
Talking this week, then Kerry captain Dara Ó Cinneide recalled that moment, saying the noise that greeted it actually gave him a serious pain in his head and he had to hold his hands over his ears to drown it out.
However, it became apparent as the half wore on, that Mayo were caught in the headlights. Conor Mortimer, source of many of their scores that year, barely touched the ball, fumbling it once and touching the ball on the ground another.
Under the kickout, they were bullied. So many of their short hand-passes were cut out by a reaching Kerry grasp. In every facet, they were bullied.
In the first quarter, seven high balls were sent into the Kerry full-forward line of Colm Cooper, Dara Ó Cinneide and Johnny Crowley. So many of them were uncontested. Six points were mined from the seven balls.
Soon, Mayo were in panic mode. They completely rejigged their defence and moved Pat Kelly from wing-back to mark Cooper. Gulp.
On 25 minutes, Éamonn Fitzmaurice glanced up with a free and lashed it as hard as he could. Cooper sprung two yards above Kelly. One-handed he got around the outside and cut inside.
A basketball hop took the retreating Gary Ruane out of the picture and Cooper kept his head to slot coolly past Peter Burke in the Mayo goals.
It remains one of the Cooper’s favourite goals, because of the range of skills on display.
At the break, some Mayo fans headed for the gate. They had seen enough.
2006 final
Onto the decider two years later then, and yes, we must.
The reinstated Mike Frank Russell opened the scoring with points from play and off the deck. And then came the deluge.
A high ball in was caught by Cooper. He played to Declan O’Sullivan who exchanged passes with Kieran Donaghy to blast to the net.
From the next play, another high ball was fielded in front of goal by Donaghy who held off David Heaney to send his shot high into the net. 2-2 to 0-0. Eight minutes gone.
David Brady was readied and came on for James Nallen, making immediately for Donaghy. As he would remark a few years later, he was ‘sent in to look for survivors.’
The first battle he won, Mayo got it down the field and turned it into a Kevin O’Neill goal. “Hold the obituary,” Ger Canning exclaimed on RTÉ.
As it happens, Brady would win the next three balls in towards Donaghy. But Mayo’s movement up top was so awful that defenders coming out with the ball had nothing to aim for. There’s a mini-industry in berating Mayo teams, but this has to be watched back to be believed just how much they had gone into their shells.
A David Heaney pass upfield was cut out by Mike McCarthy. A high ball went in that was allowed to bounce and Cooper was sent through. His shot was deflected by David Clarke onto the post, but Cooper had time to gather and punch home at the second attempt.
Kerry won by 13 points, the largest winning margin in an All-Ireland final since 1978.
So what does this all have to do with the pairing this Sunday?
And the answer is, nothing, really.
The arrival of James Horan brought a different attitude to Mayo teams that haS by and large been carried through. They became bad-asses themselves and recruited high-energy backs and aggressive forwards.
You can expand the question and ask what the All-Ireland final failings of 2012-13, 2016-17, and 2020-21 have to do with the present group.
This topic was expanded upon this week 0n The 42 GAA Weekly Podcast. Host Ronan Early drew a high-minded comparison with The Ship of Theseus paradox.
An ancient Greek thought experiment, it asks if an object (the Mayo football team) is the same if the component parts (players) are replaced over time.
The ship in question was a trusty vessel that returned to Crete and was retained for considerable time. The ravages of time would rot the planks, and they would be replaced. But at what point in the course of the replacement of planks does it become something else?
Mayo have retained some component parts. It would be a clumsy reference indeed to refer to Andy Moran, Colm Boyle, Keith Higgins, Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor and Rob Hennelly as old planks, but you get our drift.
Yet, they set sail this weekend as a different vessel.
And look, we realise the pomposity of this all. So we explored it through the medium of Trigger and his broom from ‘Only Fools And Horses.’
Go on, you know you want to.
If the sacred contract between Mayo fans and their team appeared broken after the 2021 All-Ireland defeat to Tyrone, a game they never quite got to the pitch of, then it felt like all was well again after they beat Louth in the recent semi-final.
And here are the numbers. From the team that started the 2021 final, who also started against Louth, there’s only Stephen Coen and Ryan O’Donoghue still standing.
Players who started against Louth but came on in the 2021 final were Enda Hession and Jordan Flynn.
Starters from the 2021 final who came on against Louth – Matthew Ruane, Conor Loftus and Tommy Conroy.
That leaves Rob Hennelly, Paddy Durcan, Diarmuid and Cillian O’Connor, Aidan O’Shea and James Carr who are all still on the current panel.
Depending on last-minute changes, there will be around 10 or 11 All-Ireland final debutants for Mayo this Sunday.
Does that give them a certain fearlessness? Or does Kerry’s vast experience of finals count for too much?
Either way, a collapse like 2004 and 2006 would be too much to take.
*****
Check out the latest episode of The 42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
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All-Ireland Final GAA Kerry Mayo