Why football will continue to fascinate and infuriate

When reflecting the other day on the fact that we’ve just passed the halfway point of the football decade, the mind soon turned to the journey home from the heart-stopping, Croker-packed 2010 All-Ireland semi-final between Cork and Dublin.

In the car we did what many GAA followers do after such a rollercoaster of a game: we turned on the radio, wanting more of it and to make more sense of it.

A lot of the points made on the post-match show concurred with our own observations. The Cork bench, especially Colm O’Neill, had turned and won the game. Donncha O’Connor had shown remarkable poise and concentration in putting away a penalty that had been delayed as Ross McConnell was treated for an injury. And Dublin, for all their progress that season under Pat Gilroy, should really have made it through to the All-Ireland final. Instead Alan Brogan and Stephen Cluxton were for a fourth time after losing an All-Ireland semi-final by a kick of a ball.