Éamonn Fitzmaurice: This isn't the day to dance on Dublin's grave but...
For the first time since 2014, we get to parse and analyse an All-Ireland final not featuring Dublin. The game needed the change. While that may annoy Dublin supporters, their unprecedented success in the intervening years has robbed us of one of the most important elements of sport — unpredictability.
When they won the first of their six-in-a-row in the rain in 2015, back-to-back All-Irelands were considered an incredible achievement. Dublin have rewritten the record books. During those years, to beat them (as I well know), a team had to deliver a note-perfect performance, or else Dublin’s quality and athleticism would win out. In the end, of course, it had to be Mayo to deliver the knockout blow. Regardless of who comes through from the other side of the draw when the Covid-related issues are eventually resolved, it is going to make for some All-Ireland weekend and final.
I wrote here on Saturday that for Mayo to win, they would need to keep a clean sheet and would need to disrupt Dublin’s possession game by pushing up aggressively in the faces of the Dublin backs to put them under pressure. Both requirements were fulfilled, if not exactly as I would have envisaged them.
For the first quarter, Mayo played Michael Plunkett as a permanent sweeper in front of their full-back line. James Horan was possibly guarding against the early concession of a goal and was looking to avoid a well-worn pattern from previous encounters. However, it played into Dublin’s hands. While there were no clear-cut goal chances, Dublin went into possession mode, had men free in the middle third as outlets, and worked some scores. Ciarán Kilkenny’s point after Dublin held onto the ball for over a minute and a half was a perfect example of this.
Mayo were also getting turned over too easily in that first quarter, with Dublin scoring five points from turnovers. After that first water break, with Mayo trailing by four points, they reacted and dispensed with the permanent sweeper. It improved matters, and they got a foothold in the game, but their accuracy up front was letting them down. In the first half, they converted only four out of 10 shots, with some poor wides among those.
It was interesting that both teams struggled into the Hill 16 end with only eight of the 31 points across the course of the contest scored at that end. While there was a breeze coming from the Hill, it wasn’t any trickier than normal.
As the teams went down the tunnel at half time, it looked to many as if it was going to be another one of those days for Mayo, but I felt they were still very much in it for two reasons. Firstly in the Connacht final they only got going in the second half, and they are at their most dangerous when they have to throw caution to the wind. Secondly, Dublin’s patchy form meant they had yet to put a full 70 minutes together this season. While it wouldn’t have been overly surprising if they emerged and continued from where they left off, I felt there was doubt until proven otherwise.
Mayo turned the game on its head in the second half by really hounding the Dublin backs when they had the ball. It took away their possession game and turned the match into a frantic up-and-down-the-pitch battle which suited Mayo’s young legs, rather than the ‘keep possession’ stroll that Dublin wanted. Mayo scored an amazing eight points from turnovers in the second half, which must be some kind of record against Dublin. The Mayo crowd got behind them, and the energy around Croke Park was palpable. Meanwhile, Dublin’s accuracy deserted them when they just needed to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Their fabled third-quarter charge was absent as astonishingly they failed to score, registering four wides.
I felt at the time there was another factor at play — Dublin’s conditioning. While this has long been one of their greatest strengths, they were out on their feet early. The first Dublin player to go down with cramp happened in the 46th minute. I can’t remember seeing that before. The more frantic and unstructured the game became, the less it suited them. They longed for a period of possession to take the sting out of the match, but Mayo, to their immense credit, wouldn’t allow it. Enda Hession made a massive difference when introduced, and his pace and direct running, along with that of Matthew Ruane, punched holes and kept Dublin pinned in. Mayo were simply fitter and more athletic than Dublin, which is a serious validation of Horan’s sports-science team.
Pádraig O’Hora and Lee Keegan were heroic in their defending throughout, but particularly in the second half and throughout extra time. Tommy Conroy and Ryan O’Donoghue came of age and proved that they had learned and improved from their first All-Ireland final appearance last December.
Credit to Robbie Hennelly for converting the 45 at the end. While he had kicked well, it was a massive moment, particularly with the drama around the re-take. The kick was directly in my eyeline, and took me back to the Gaelic Grounds in 2014 when Henneally also had a kick in my line of sight, from further out, to win the All-Ireland semi-final replay at the end of normal time.
He connected perfectly, and I watched as it sailed between the posts and thought: ‘Really?’
Thankfully it came up short that day, but Hennelly embodied the power of perseverance on Saturday as he buried that memory, and many more besides, as he emerged as one of the heroes.
The Aidan O’Shea substitution was a big talking point after the match. To me, it was a non-issue. O’Shea had a poor game, and needed to be replaced. His status as captain and a senior player in the group is irrelevant. For Horan it is clear and as it should be — perform, or step aside.
Today isn’t the day to be dancing on Dublin’s grave. They have been fantastic champions and they will be back. While they have caused me plenty of pain, I was always able to acknowledge their brilliance and appreciate and admire the big personalities that always delivered. The last time they lost a championship game in 2014, they fixed their issues. I don’t think they have the same quality of player available to them this time though.
As well as the talent now-departed they have been shorn of some huge personalities, players who thrived in the clutch such as Diarmuid Connolly, Jack McCaffrey, Michael Darragh McCauley, Paul Flynn, and Bernard Brogan. They will be back, but they are no longer a distance ahead of everyone else.
I felt all this season that they were on the wane, and reasoned that all of the departures simply meant they couldn’t be as strong. What I was surprised by though was some of the normally impeccable management of their off-field distractions. I think this is something Dessie Farrell will look at when he reviews the season. The Covid breach was a serious own goal and was plain wrong, the Cluxton saga dragged and dragged, and some of their dealings in the media, normally so stage-managed, amazed me.
Philly McMahon spoke in the build-up to the game about needing to consult with management about whether or not to travel to Greece with Bohs for their Europa Conference qualifier match. Surely that would have been an in-house discussion weeks in advance? Kevin McManamon was in Tokyo with the boxing team and mentioned in an interview over there that he would see if he could try to break into the squad when he got back. After missing the entire championship did he really expect to get into the squad so easily?
Their sideline was chaotic at times during the second half and during extra time on Saturday. In fairness to Farrell, he was quite calm, but there was a lot going on. The media manager, Seamus McCormack, was prominent and seemed to be involved in a lot of discussions. Is that his brief? Over the course of the summer, many of the Dublin players seemed to have a louder and more prominent presence on social media than before. Had they taken their eye off the ball? Had profile become more important than performance? It is human and natural, and they have been phenomenal to maintain their standards for so long with such success.
This defeat will hurt though and will ground them again.
Unfortunately for Mayo, Sam Maguire wasn’t handed out on Saturday and they will have to go and do it all again. They will be well aware that the last time they beat Dublin in 2012, Donegal beat them in the final, and so the victory over the Metropolitans counted for nought in the end.
If Kerry eventually come through the other side on August 28, the two form teams in the country will be going head-to-head. From a Kerry perspective, I would have preferred Dublin as I think Mayo are the only team that can match Kerry’s legs and athleticism. If it materialises, it really will be a case of the irresistible force meeting the immovable object.
Of course, Tyrone may yet have something to say about all of that.
