A very funny thing happened on the way to this year’s inevitable Dublin/Kerry final. Indeed, of all the strange things in this weirdest of Championship years was how, once we’d felled the Dubs, Kerry became unbackable favourites to land Sam. Priced at 1/2 to win the thing out before they’d even made the final never made any sense at all […]
Our victory over Dublin was only last Saturday night and the All-Ireland final is the best part of four weeks into the future, with the second semi-final not taking place now until Saturday week. Despite this rather leisurely timetable from our perspective, it’s worth shifting the focus for the first time to the decider and, in particular, to consider who […]
The GAA announced a short while ago that the Kerry/Tyrone semi-final will be pushed back by a further week and that, as a consequence, the final will also be moved back. The second semi-final will now be played on Saturday, 28th August, while the final is set for Saturday, 11th September. Times and dates for these revised fixtures have not […]
We did it, we only went and did it. Dublin have been the greatest champions in the history of Gaelic football but their run was going to end some day. That day, in a mesmerising, chaotic and thrilling night of football at Croke Park, was today. We’ve downed the Dubs and, once again, we’re back in the All-Ireland final. It’s […]
We’ve finally named our team to play Dublin at Croke Park in this evening’s All-Ireland semi-final. Here it is: Mayo (All-Ireland SFC semi-final v Dublin, 14/8/2021): Robbie Hennelly (Breaffy); Padraig O’Hora (Ballina Stephenites), Lee Keegan (Westport), Michael Plunkett (Ballintubber); Paddy Durcan (Castlebar Mitchels), Stephen Coen (Hollymount/Carramore), Eoghan McLaughlin (Westport); Matthew Ruane (Breaffy), Conor Loftus (Crossmolina Deel Rovers); Diarmuid O’Connor (Ballintubber), Kevin McLoughlin […]
Earlier this year it was like the football would never start and that, even if it did, we’d be stuck at home watching it all on TV. But now today we’re back in an All-Ireland semi-final, facing Dublin at Croke Park where 24,000 punters are being allowed attend. It’s not, I know, the old pre-Covid world we once inhabited. But […]
Sweet Jesus and His Holy Mother, it’s the night before the big game. The last few days really have flown and the game’s approach has been a quiet, unheralded one. Befitting, maybe, this still surreal pandemic era we’re now calling normal life. Or maybe, from our perspective, it’s that we’re inured to what most pundits expect will be our fate […]
On Saturday evening, for the tenth time since 2012, Mayo take on Dublin in an all-or-nothing Championship showdown at Croke Park. That 2012 All-Ireland semi-final meeting between the two counties was the most recent time the Green and Red came out on top in this head-to-head fixture but, with an infusion of youth in their ranks, hopes are rising once […]
Today’s announcement by the GAA that next Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final between Kerry and Tyrone has been postponed by a week, with the result that the final has had to be pushed back by six days as well, comes as a rude reminder that Covid-19 and its baleful effects are still very much with us. We know ourselves what kind of […]
There’s less than a week to go now to the All-Ireland football semi-final between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park. While Dublin are aiming to reach their seventh All-Ireland decider on the trot, where they hope to claim the Sam Maguire for the seventh successive year, Mayo are once again looking to put a halt to their gallop. In this […]