AMIDST THE CARNIVAL atmosphere around Dublin all weekend, it rather escaped me that one of these amazing sets of supporters would be disappointed on Sunday.
But walking back to the Hogan Stand Pub on the North Circular at 5.30pm, where just a couple of hours ago I had spoken to so many hopeful Mayo fans, there could be no mistaking that feeling. That old Mayo feeling.
I turned to Eoin McDevitt, who was with me and I said “My God, I’ve never seen so many people make so little noise.” The Donegal fans had stayed in Croke Park to celebrate with their team, so this was Mayo’s private time for grief. As if to accentuate the point, a Ballaghaderreen man turned to me and said – “family flowers only”. Truth be told, it felt a little like a funeral.
Some people didn’t even stick around for the wake – my Mum and Dad were sitting in the Cusack Stand and they said a Mayo man left after David Clarke denied Colm McFadden a third goal in the 13th minute. Dad said this lad had been filming the parade, taking photographs, soaking up the occasion and then left after less than quarter of an hour. The man was obviously an idiot, but these All-Irelands are complicated days for Mayo people.
Lee Keegan of Mayo is consoled by Jason Doherty at the end of the game. Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer
Advertisement
But there are shreds of comfort for them. After that opening quarter hour, their worst nightmare had come to pass. The thing they absolutely couldn’t let happen, had happened. And yet they were only three points down at half-time and were only three points down mid-way through the second half. Donegal always looked in control but Mayo didn’t die, and if Seamus O’Shea had had an extra half second with that goal chance in the last minute, they’d have been back to within one.
Then, of course, there’s Andy Moran. He is Mayo’s stand-out forward and his absence through injury was absolutely crucial to how this game went. Get him back for next year’s championship and they have a massive chance. But to see him leaning over on his crutches at the end of the game, heart-broken, was absolutely gut-wrenching.
Donegal have no such All-Ireland final hang-up’s of course – when you make the effort of getting to these things, you might as well win them. They’re two for two in September now, and the manner of their win this year brooked no argument.
They were the best team in the country and they had to beat the best to be the best. They couldn’t have been given a harder route to the summit, but now that just makes this win all the sweeter.
And they got the big-match performance from Michael Murphy that they were waiting for. In truth he hasn’t had an exceptional year, but on Sunday he was unplayable. He is a truly monstrous physical specimen, and his goal in the third minute is a Croke Park moment for the ages.
We shouldn’t be too surprised of course, because he did the exact same thing in the Donegal county final last year…
… but it is already one of the all-time great All-Ireland final goals, along with Deccie Meehan in 2001, and Colm Cooper last year.
We all saw the celebrations on the pitch, and the BBC championship cameras caught a really astonishing moment, that we saw subsequently on the Sunday Game, of Mark McHugh celebrating with his father Martin on the sideline seconds after the final whistle.
It was funny because I had spent some time with Martin earlier that day at a pre-match function and he was telling me about the worst game he ever played. It was the All-Ireland semi-final against Meath in 1990, and he was taken off having barely kicked a ball. He never took a defeat so badly, and didn’t leave his house for three days until Mark was born the following Wednesday.
Now here Mark was, preparing for the biggest game of his life, and his dad was a ball of nervous energy who couldn’t sit still for two minutes at a time. It looks a lot more fun to play in an All-Ireland final than to watch your son playing in it, I will say that.
Some teams time their seasons well (Kerry in 2009). Some counties win and deserve to win without ever giving us a performance to savour (Cork in 2010). Some teams show nerve at the right time (Dublin last year).
And sometimes a team win an All-Ireland championship by being the best team in that championship for the entire summer, by bestriding the entire season, winning in style with the best players, and the best manager. No arguments – Donegal are our All-Ireland champions.
This week Murph was – telling myself not to gloat. I make predictions every day that are so laughably wide of the mark as to be a permanent stain against my character.
As a donegal man – mayo played a great game and were able to break down our attacks! I would have liked to have seen mayo win it but not against us lol
Donegal: best team in the country, no question. Second best? Probably Cork. Certainly not Mayo who were a massive disappointment yesterday from a neutral point of view. Same old failings.
I’m not sure Peter.
No team disrupted Donegal more than Mayo did yesterday.
Mayo fought like tigers & never gave up which you couldn’t say about Cork
Put Andy Moran in that Mayo team & they will be a real force.
That’s generous of you, Justin, but all the old Mayo failings were on display yesterday. For the first 20 mins they were like a junior B side. Getting to six finals in 26 years is an impressive tally; but we have to ask why they never win. There is a huge question mark over this Mayo team’s temperament, as there was over the temperament of their predecessors.
Agree with everybody above bar Tom. The proof is in the pudding and Sam is on the way to Donegal as we speak. And Mayo will be back no doubt. 2nd best team in Ireland. And Im a Donegal man.
After Donegal scored the two goals I thought ,same old mayo, but as the game went on I saw a mayo side that took the game to Donegal , hassled Donegal into mistakes , and in my opinion if Moran was there it could have been closer. Donegal are some team ,and if the progress more next year and keep the hunger clearly they will be favourites next year.
No breakthru team has retained an all Ireland title in last 30 yrs and Donegal have some serious party animals on board! That said, Jim McGuinness has serious authority and hunger so they might. An injury to Murphy or McFadden would be fatal to their chances.
That may be so Tom but the bookies were wrong this year and unless teams like Cork and Kerry can figure out a way to play against Donegal’s strategy and tactics and actually win then the bookies will be wrong again next year too.
To be fair, although I know Tom is probably just trolling the Donegal people on here, I don’t think Donegal will be able defend their title next year. The amount of intensity and physicality that they have brought to the Championship this year is bound to take it’s toll. Very few teams have been capable of retaining Sam in the last couple of decades at any rate.
Third-tier Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen to reach cup final; Parrott scores again for AZ
1 hr ago
0
FreeMunster U20FC
Kerry and Cork begin Munster U20 campaigns with away victories
2 hrs ago
0
the dupont incident
'The backlash myself and Porter and our families got was probably enough punishment'
7 hrs ago
9
Sign in or create a free account
To continue reading create a free account
Or sign into an existing account
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 161 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.Privacy Policy
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 110 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 143 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 113 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 83 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 39 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 35 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 134 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 61 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 74 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 83 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 37 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 46 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 27 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 92 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 99 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 72 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 53 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 88 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 69 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
As a donegal man – mayo played a great game and were able to break down our attacks! I would have liked to have seen mayo win it but not against us lol
Donegal: best team in the country, no question. Second best? Probably Cork. Certainly not Mayo who were a massive disappointment yesterday from a neutral point of view. Same old failings.
I’m not sure Peter.
No team disrupted Donegal more than Mayo did yesterday.
Mayo fought like tigers & never gave up which you couldn’t say about Cork
Put Andy Moran in that Mayo team & they will be a real force.
That’s generous of you, Justin, but all the old Mayo failings were on display yesterday. For the first 20 mins they were like a junior B side. Getting to six finals in 26 years is an impressive tally; but we have to ask why they never win. There is a huge question mark over this Mayo team’s temperament, as there was over the temperament of their predecessors.
Agree with everybody above bar Tom. The proof is in the pudding and Sam is on the way to Donegal as we speak. And Mayo will be back no doubt. 2nd best team in Ireland. And Im a Donegal man.
After Donegal scored the two goals I thought ,same old mayo, but as the game went on I saw a mayo side that took the game to Donegal , hassled Donegal into mistakes , and in my opinion if Moran was there it could have been closer. Donegal are some team ,and if the progress more next year and keep the hunger clearly they will be favourites next year.
No breakthru team has retained an all Ireland title in last 30 yrs and Donegal have some serious party animals on board! That said, Jim McGuinness has serious authority and hunger so they might. An injury to Murphy or McFadden would be fatal to their chances.
Donegal will be third favourites for next years all Ireland and rightly so. They will always be lesser teams than Kerry and Cork.
That may be so Tom but the bookies were wrong this year and unless teams like Cork and Kerry can figure out a way to play against Donegal’s strategy and tactics and actually win then the bookies will be wrong again next year too.
tom what planet are u on??Kerry are finished for at least 3 years,cork not good enough,and key players the wrong side of thirty……….
Jesus Tom, there are times……
To be fair, although I know Tom is probably just trolling the Donegal people on here, I don’t think Donegal will be able defend their title next year. The amount of intensity and physicality that they have brought to the Championship this year is bound to take it’s toll. Very few teams have been capable of retaining Sam in the last couple of decades at any rate.