John Fogarty: In challenging times, was this the greatest All-Ireland Championship ever?

Was this Championship worth it? You can be most certain it was. There was shape put to these past nine weeks. Weekends became weekends again. Games were conversation topics that didn’t depress and worry, the holidays we couldn’t go on but could at least look forward to, the opium when there were no masses

UNFORGETTABLE: The Tipperary team celebrates after the Munster final win over Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last month. The Championship offered something positive in this most trying of years. Picture: Daire Brennan/Sportsfile

If anyone knows how long this year has been, it’s GAA president John Horan. In May, he was stating Gaelic games could not take place so long as social distancing was in place. Less than four weeks later and he was confirming a split season, county club championships taking place from the end of July to September followed by a three-month inter-county period from October to December.

Six months after that and on Saturday he was handing over the Sam Maguire Cup to his fellow St Vincent’s Secondary School teacher Stephen Cluxton for a third time in as many years. This wretched pandemic has been so changeable that he could be forgiven for thinking the sands were shifting below his feet. We have all felt that sense of discombobulation.