Christy O'Connor: Mayo’s Darby Day and the biggest All-Ireland final shock in history
The longer the All-Ireland final went on, the stronger Mayo were getting, and the more Kerry were gasping for air. Pic: Chani Anderson
Prior to yesterday, the most famous All-Ireland final of all – the Offaly-Kerry 1982 decider – was the most famous for obvious reasons; Seamus Darby’s iconic late goal and how it denied Kerry their five-in-a-row immortality. That level of history, and how Offaly shaped it, was always going to attach an unmatched status to the game, but the aura around it was inflated by the shock factor of the result.
It was the biggest shock in modern history but how much of an upset was it either? Offaly had lost to Kerry in the previous year’s final, while they racked up 4-10 against Mick O’Dwyer’s side in the 1980 semi-final. Could the heavy hand of history potentially weigh down one of the greatest teams of all time? It did that afternoon in 1982.
That final will always be etched into folklore because of the huge earthquake it unleashed across the football landscape. Across the last 50 years though, how many All-Ireland final shocks has there actually been? They can be counted on one hand – 1991, 1992, 2001 and 2011. And even those wins demand deeper examination to decide if they even were upsets.
Down hadn’t participated in an All-Ireland final in 23 years while they hadn’t been Ulster champions for ten years when they reached the 1991 final. But a Down team always carried a huge confidence and history of success into All-Ireland finals, proving as much that afternoon by playing a scintillating brand of football to defeat a Meath team running on empty in their tenth game of the championship.
Donegal won their first All-Ireland title in 1992 but they defeated a Dublin side that hadn’t been All-Ireland champions since 1983, and which had only won two Leinster titles in seven years. Was that a shock or was the perception just elevated from Donegal winning a maiden title?
Meath’s overwhelming status as favourites ahead of the 2001 final was based on their ruthless evisceration of Kerry in the semi-final. But they ran into an extremely talented Galway side that had been All-Ireland champions in 1998, and which had only lost the final to Kerry after a replay the previous year.
Dublin were underdogs in the 2011 final against a Kerry side aiming for a fifth title in eight years. However, the sands of time has forced a review of Dublin’s status before that match considering how that 2011 team was decorated with some of the greatest players of all time.
Yesterday though, was probably the biggest earthquake ever to hit Croke Park on All-Ireland final day, unleashing a tsunami of emotion, smashing the dam of frustration and washing away an ocean of hurt and pain.
Mayo finally getting their hands on the Sam Maguire was always going to be special beyond words and emotion but it’s even more magical when not even Nostradamus could have predicted it at the outset of the season.
Mayo finished fourth in a group of 4 in last year’s All-Ireland round robin. Roscommon hammered them by ten points in April, outscoring them by 1-17 to 0-7 in the second half – in MacHale Park. Mayo gradually began to build up momentum and showcase their potential after Connacht. But, outside of their own camp, how many people really thought they could win yesterday?
Emotion always clouds judgement, especially in the moment, but this was undoubtedly the greatest day ever in the new Croke Park, and one of the greatest GAA days in the association’s history. Time is like a hall of mirrors, forever distorting the image in the mind’s eye, but that famous ‘Darby Day’ in 1982 had always been the most famous final because of the massive earthquake it triggered.
In time though, the 2026 All-Ireland final may be deemed to have recorded a higher reading on the Richter Scale because of the seismic historical dent it carved into the GAA landscape.
And into its consciousness.
In the lead up to yesterday, the data suggested that Kerry would have more possession because they were expected to win more kickouts. Kerry did win more restarts (27-20) but that didn’t change anything in Mayo’s minds. They had to win the turnover battle, which was got them to this final. And they did.
In their previous five games, Mayo had sourced 52% of their scores (3-56) off turnovers. The challenge for Mayo was to try and overwhelm Kerry with their relentless hunting and man-to-man pressing game for a full 70 minutes.
One of Mayo’s greatest strengths is their high volume of taggers and man-markers. The emblem of Mayo’s identity has always been the ferocity of their intensity. And they trusted those principles implicitly, staying true to their identity, consistently setting traps and adjusting as they went.
Mayo won more long Kerry kickouts (9) than any team had all summer, including three in the last quarter, but Mayo never gave Kerry the time on the ball they’d been accustomed to having. Of Kerry’s 17 turnovers, eight were coughed up from heat in the tackle. In the second half, Mayo mined 1-5 from turnovers.
Once the chaos came, Mayo thrived and Kerry were gasping for oxygen and any fluent sort of rhythm. After having 76 possessions in last year’s final, and 69 possessions against Dublin two weeks ago, Paudie Clifford was hounded by a player still under 20, Eoin McGreal, who limited Clifford to 28 possessions, 0-2 from play, and two assists.
It was just Clifford that couldn’t catch his breath. After having shot the lights out prior to the Dublin game, Dylan Geaney was restricted to just 11 possessions, no shot and just one assist. David Clifford did end up with 1-6 and assists for 0-2 from 22 possessions. But after the first 25 minutes, there was a sense that Mayo had some degree of control around the Clifford conundrum, restricting him to just four shots after his 15th minute goal.
The longer the game went on, the stronger Mayo were getting, and the more Kerry were gasping for air. Mayo kept running and hunting while the litany of injuries and the chunk of training time that so many Kerry players had missed earlier in the season eventually caught up on them, especially some of their key players.
Still, Kerry won’t use that as an excuse. The better team won. Hands down.
Ten minutes in, it was obvious that Mayo weren’t going to leave Croke Park with any regrets. No matter how low-percentage the chance was from distance, they were going for it. Two of their first three two-point efforts dropped short while Jordan Flynn kicked the other attempt wide. Two minutes later, Paul Towey was also wide from a two-point effort. And still, Mayo kept launching.
Their second score came from a Jack Carney two-pointer before Kobe McDonald miscued an attempt in front of the Cusack Stand and Kerry got a point from the turnover. Kerry didn’t take their first two-point shot until the 20th minute but they didn’t need to when they were ahead by seven points at that stage. Mayo were suffering off turnovers, especially shots that dropped short. And still, Mayo kept launching from distance.
Across the 70 minutes, Mayo took 14 two-point shots, 13 from play, seven more than Kerry. Mayo only converted 4 (which had been their average per game all season), but Kerry only converted 1 from 7, only five of which were from play. And Kerry missed two late orange flag attempts from David Clifford and Seán O’Shea to tie the game.
Those three extra Mayo orange flags were critical to the outcome, but their willingness to keep shooting and trying to put Kerry on the backfoot was a metaphor for Mayo’s bravery all afternoon.
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