Rise above negativity and you’ll see semi-final positives

For a weekend that has served up some lovely football in recent years, there’s been little love for the football league semi- finals in some quarters.

Looking at tweets reporting the attendance in Croke Park last weekend an observation of Mickey Harte’s from three years ago came to mind.

A little over 12,000 people had showed up for the 2012 league semi-finals, the first of which had been an absorbing clash in which an emerging Mayo team shaded Kerry by a point in extra-time thanks to a late Richie Feeney point. Almost every report referred to “just 12,000” being in attendance. Why the need for the “just” wondered Harte? Why such an emphasis, slant, negativity? The crowd wasn’t the main story: Mayo’s stirring comeback and win was.