Mayo’s resolve will now be tested more than ever before
As if this Kerry side hasn’t suffered enough ignominy at the hands of this great Dublin team having become the first from the county to lose three championship games to them never mind the first to be beaten in four, another defeat in five months time will further copper-fasten the All-Ireland champions’ place in the annals of the game.
It was in Killarney in March last year that Dublin last suffered a reverse so it might seem appropriate to some Kerry supporters they be the ones to end what would by then be just over two years without a defeat. Although, Cavan, Tyrone and Donegal in that order are ahead of them in the queue.
It’s a fascinating time to follow Dublin football. That Jim Gavin has lost one game in four championship seasons rightly puts him and his team among the greats. That they have won all but one of the 12 league and SFC competitions they have entered since Gavin’s reign began is a staggering achievement.
That Brian Fenton has not lost a game in 24 league and championship appearances in his burgeoning if already stellar inter-county career almost beggars belief.
But Dublin, as much as they deserved it, weren’t the story on Saturday. Mayo’s tale of woe is not only more enduring but more compelling. Second to it is their ability to reset but that amnesiac quality has never been more in question than now. It was notable over the weekend how one popular Mayo supporters’ website mentioned the players would come back strongly in 2017, not stronger. The difference is more than subtle.
Evergreen Alan Dillon has two All Stars to his name but he has now lost five All-Ireland finals. David Clarke and Andy Moran have been part of most of the same journey. None of them want to be the perennial bridesmaids or the “celebrity losers”, as one commentator so crudely and cruelly put it, but their saga sells.
The most coveted interviews in the coming months will be Rob Hennelly and Cillian O’Connor just as it was with O’Connor after the 2013 final after he accosted referee Joe McQuillan.
It might not seem like it at times but forgiveness and generosity of spirit remain at the nucleus of the Irish psyche. Looking back on the game, how could you not feel sympathy for Hennelly as he nodded to Maurice Deegan as the referee showed him a black card? People will want to hear his story first to know how he felt but then to know he’s alright.
Deep down, Dublin will appreciate they don’t have top billing either. One former player of theirs on Sunday remarked they would have won regardless of the penalty goal. It was as if Hennelly’s error and how it fed into Mayo’s torture trundle had somehow sullied the achievement of this back-to-back All-Ireland winning side. But there is no contest. Dublin are only a team; Mayo are a county. This Dublin team will be rightly remembered in history but history already knows Mayo too well.
Dublin, though, could do themselves a favour or two by at least giving themselves some praise. After the drawn game, Gavin said his team didn’t deserve to win the game yet claimed after Saturday’s win: “I don’t think they probably got as much credit — people went after our performance in the first game...”
Speaking to a two-time All-Ireland winning hurler on Sunday, he said he had become fed up feeling sorry for Mayo. Many neutrals will feel the same but Mayo didn’t want their pity in the first place. It’s not as if it has done them any good to this point but at least since James Horan took charge there has been a determination not to feed into the county’s hard luck storyline. That will be Stephen Rochford’s greatest task in the months ahead.
Earlier on Saturday, the Western Bulldogs won their first AFL Premiership in 62 years. It was mentioned not only by some of the Mayo following but in the media that it was a good portent for Rochford’s side. As it turned out, there was only so sporting romance to hand out that day.
Like Mayo, fatalism has been no stranger to the Bulldogs. In the Melbourne newspaper The Age, an advertisement from the club’s partner Victoria University commiserated them on their loss. The correct ad was carried in another newspaper but apart from The Age’s proof-reading faux pas it showed even those close to the side were hedging their bets.
Some sections of Mayo’s following have been guilty of self-perpetuating doom but on Saturday, unlike the closing stages of the 2013 final, there was audible encouragement for the team in the closing stages. As Hennelly’s fumble and O’Connor’s wide are catalogued alongside Anthony Finnerty’s miss and Liam McHale’s sending off in Mayo’s ever-growing lowlights reel, their resolve will be tested more than ever before.
After a second successive final defeat in 2013, Aidan O’Shea told this newspaper: “We’re being told reaching a third final in a row will be tough but what else are we going to do? There’s no point giving up.”
As they now contemplate another winter of lament, you hope they don’t. A freak show to some, Mayo are actually the game’s greatest story.
A yarn even godly Dublin can’t compete with.
Tipp send out a message
Tipperary sent the first shot across the bows of the GAA hierarchy last week when they announced they would be opposing Páraic Duffy’s All-Ireland football proposals.
If recently-retired Limerick footballer Pa Ranahan’s comments are an accurate indicator then his county will do likewise. He tweeted in reaction to Tipperary’s decision: “Fair play to Tipp for rejecting this. Another ‘proposal’ to allow stronger co’s (counties) move further ahead. More games needed for all not just elite.”
In Saturday’s All-Ireland final replay match programme, GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail was again pressing for support for the proposals, which will shortly go before Central Council for endorsement with a mind to be voted on at Congress.
Duffy’s recommendation is not exactly flawed but it does not do much for developing counties, whose players want more championship games. Were the provinces agreeable to making their competitions round robin with a mind to giving teams more games, it might make Duffy’s plan more palatable.
But, as things stand, it’s on its own and is likely to be viewed dimly particularly by counties currently in Division 3 and 4 that may interpret it as another step towards a second-tier championship.
Sin bin far better punishment for cynical fouls
There was a time when Paul Galvin’s 2009 call for professional inter-county referees looked more appealing with each season.
Now it’s by the game.
By paying the country’s top match officials, Galvin argued the chances of mistakes being made would be greatly reduced.
They would be fully committed to their on-field responsibilities while passing on their pearls of wisdom to club referees right across the country.
It is just one measure the GAA must consider now as the in-game administration of the black card, three years since its introduction, has been nothing short of horrendous.
Maurice Deegan is one of Gaelic football’s most competent referees but he looked less than ordinary in the first half of Saturday’s All- Ireland final replay.
Either all cynical play come under the black card bracket or things will deteriorate and the perception of lawlessness develop.
The sin bin, as we have repeated, is a fairer means of punishing such fouls.
Might Deegan have sent John Small to it eight minutes into the replay knowing the Dublin defender would be coming back on?
We stress again that video evidence can be an asset to referees without infringing on the flow of the game too much.
Referees know it too but even though they are crying out for help it seems it will take a lot to convince the GAA that their need is so great.
