Peace and quiet has been restored Chez WJ tonight but it was mayhem here at around five o’clock this evening as Dublin came back from the dead to snatch a sensational All-Ireland final victory over favourites Kerry. With seven minutes to go and the Kerrymen four clear the little lad had just started to wail but with Dublin back on terms two minutes later that was the last of the tears from that quarter today. Then when Stephen Cluxton drove over the match-winning free a few minutes later, I damn near had to peel him off the ceiling.
There was nothing for it at that stage but to grab the flags, get into the car and head towards Croker where within minutes we were in the middle of the throng pouring out of HQ. We drove around the environs of Croke Park for about a half an hour and then eventually made it down O’Connell Street before heading home, happy that we’d drunk deep on the post-match atmosphere.
I’m delighted that Dublin won today – for my kids who will, no doubt, very shortly be coming face to face with Sam at the local school, for all the loyal Dublin fans that I know and for everyone down at Vinnie’s where, as well as Pat Gilroy and Mickey Whelan on the sideline, the club had six players on the panel today. It’s a fantastic day for all concerned.
There’s also a big lesson for us from today’s result. Pat Gilroy’s Dublin are a team who have reached the summit by dint of an extremely strong work ethic and an uncompromising style of play, characteristics which James Horan is also aiming to instill in our lads. While on one hand, today’s All-Ireland win for the Dubs shows us how much further we need to progress if we are to be competitive at the highest level, on the other it provides us with a roadmap for how we might do so. Dublin dared to believe they could make it to the promised land and they got their reward today. It would be great to think that we might have a day like this to look forward to before too long as well.
well done to Dublin, but it just sickens me that this has been there first all ireland final since 1995 and they won it, we have been in a few and just have not crossed the line, i hope Kerry are sick
That will be a sickener for the Kingdom. Seven minutes to go and then mugged. Not like them.
Too soon to look for straws in the wind but certain things stick out. The league matters. Cork sandwiched an All Ireland between two league titles. Dublin got to this years league final and went on from there. Kerry did the same before them. Its a form indicator.
Gilroy took three years to get what he wanted. Murdered by Kerry in 2009, naive v Cork last year they learned as they went along. Big names were moved on. Whelan, the McGees, Ryan, Keaney, Sherlock, Henry, Bonner etc.
The team became the focus not the individual. So where are we? Well if Kerry won with a bit to spare we could say fourth best. Now we know Donegal are top three but we wont be seen as high as four. No matter. James Horan has a clear picture of where we are and what distance we got to travel.
We need three new scoring strong forwards. We need one more mobile mid. We need to say a final goodbye to three or four players who will not now lead us further. If kept on, they will hinder the counties progress.
Tipp showed how to build from scratch and with no past to hang a coat on. We at minor have no excuse. Time to get ruthless at that level and demand we retain the spot Galway and the Rossies seem to have taken at that level.
Yesterday may have brought us closer to the holy grail than a Kerry win would have. It is notoriously difficult to put back to back AI wins together so Dublin might struggle to win again next year. Kerry will surely see the exodus of a few of the great team that has dominated the past decade and are now heading into rebuilding. Cork will be back with a vengence next year and then there’s the rest including ourselves who can all now dare to dream.
Went to the match with my 6 year old Dub. Absolutley delighted at the final whistle. It was very emotional, with a lots of tears shed all round me. Being there with the young dub witnessing the dramatic defeat of Kerry of all teams after what they have done to us over the year. I could not imagine what it would be like if it was Mayo, considering the high I was on after that match. Great scenes all round. My young lad had to wait 6 long years to watch his team win an All Ireland. It must have been a long hard 6 years for him.
I don’t know how he kept going. Year after year going back into the Creche and Nursery with Dublin crashing out of the All Ireland 🙂
Felt sorry for the Gooch yesterday. A great player. If he was fed more ball by Kerry they probably would have won it. A big mistake not playing the ball into him.
Where does that leave Mayo. I said we were behing Dublin, but not that far behind. The Dublin team are good but not a patch on the Kerry team they defeated yesterday in their prime. We probably need to find 5 players which will bring us very close to the Holy Grail.
Well done the Dubs and Mayo for Sam in 2012.
Kerry had it in the bag but left it after them. Now they know how we have felt on many occasions. How they must be hurting after that. So its not only Mayo that can blow an All Ireland or fail to finish off a team they had in big trouble with less that 10 minutes to go. A chink of light there for us and a lesson to remember for future clashes.
Note too how Dublin have turned a 17 point mauling into a 1 point victory against the same Kerry team in just 2 years. Mayo please take note of that.
Credit the Dubs. Beating Tyrone among others to reach the final and then overcoming a full strength Kerry in the decider. Nobody can say that they won a “soft” All Ireland.
Hard to believe some of them Kerry boys were playing in their 10th final. There should be a raft of retirements from that team now and they might struggle like the rest of us to re-build.
In any case we saw proof yesterday that there is no need to be in awe of the green and gold jersey. If you stand up to them they can buckle. Remember Armagh in the final of 2002, Tyrone in 2005 and 2008 finals and now Dublin 2011. Hope for us all. Next year Mayo should storm through Connacht as the opposition is poor enough there and be ready to take on all comers in August. Dublin loaded down by the weight of trying to put 2 back to back. Kerry and Tyrone over the hill and re-building. Up for grabs in 2012 if Mayo are good enough and hungry enough.
delighted for the dubs yesterday! Poor Darren O Sullivan though….all that misery….suck it up Darren!
Richard is spot on….I wouldnt fear dublin if we can catch up on them in the fitness/physicality side of thing.
Good man Jim Flag
“Next year Mayo should storm through Connacht as opposition is poor enough …”
Mother of Jaysus, what an ignorant – cavalier comment, small matter of Galway and Roscommon, maybe Sligo, or have Mayo really turned the corner? Fair play to Dublin and well done to self confessed Roscommon man Andy Moran on making the team of the year. Now hows about the Ballagh club allow him to play for his first love Roscommon and Pierce Hanley too.
Grrrr hands off our Andy >:[
its a long way to the connacht championship , i for one dont see us storming through… it would be nice though!
Willie Joe, what did you make of the performance of your old friend Joe McQuillan?
On_the_road you reckon…….”We need three new scoring strong forwards. We need one more mobile mid.”
I kind of agree but my reaction is ‘Tall order!’ Can you name the four who might fit that bill. I for one cannot. I reckon we probably have a long way to go folks.
So Dublin are now top of the pile and a big congrats to them. I have to admit that I really like this Dublin team – When I was a kid the word Dub wasnt in a sentence without it being preceded by ‘Dirty’ but that isnt a moniker that you could attach to this team – Honest, Hard Working, Brave and Skillful are what I think of and I really enjoy watching them.
Where does it all leave us ? Well if you can compare us to the Dubs I think we are in a similar situation to Gilroys 1st year.
A few players will have to be moved on. Midfield just isnt mobile enough and we still have to find a top class corner back,corner forward and half forward. Pat Gilroy managed to find enough players not only to build a great team but a great panel and I believe JH will have to do the same.
If he can manage that then I believe he will get his chance at Sam because I believe even if Dublin win again next year it wont be by much and with the effort they are putting into winning their time at the top might not be all that long.
PS Heard a rumour that Andy Moran broke his leg training for the Aussie series today – anyone know if that is true ? Hopefully not.
Diehard…not sure how to take your post. Are you questioning my own opinion? Have I said something wrong? Have I offended someone of the forwards? Or am I too sensitive?
I know one thing for sure and its this; if we go back to the coal face of championship football depending on Andy Moran and young O Connor then don’t expect to progress.
Are you seriously suggesting that we should leave the rest there because you don’t see anyone to challenge them?
I don’t live in the county any more, I left years ago when a young man could find a thing called a job so I don’t know who can push the Dillons, Dohertys and Freemans. Perhaps Michael Conroy, maybe Barry Moran, maybe Kilcoyne could get the mojo back, maybe some of the minors of 2008/09. Maybe some of the U21s 2006/07.08/09/10. Maybe Conor Mort?
So if we decide to look at it as a tall order then your right, lets forget it. Dublin in 2006 got a sickner from us. Tyrone and Kerry added more woe on them in 2008 and 2009. But they looked, they chopped, they changed until they got a team that worked.
We blew the work of 2004-2006 with spectacular abandon from 2007 until 2010. Armagh 1998-2002 and Cork 2007-2009 like Dublin 1992-1995 kept plugging. We have two choices, one is to seek change and hopefully prosper or else stick with the batch loaf we have until it goes stale.
If I figured your post wrong…sorry , if you were having a bite at me…sure this is the place to do it
Johnboy – thought he was as bad as always, a whole plethora of bad decisions. I know many thought he gave plenty of soft decisions Dublin’s way (including the free for Cluxton’s winner) but he gave a good few similar ones the other way too.
Ruanejos – sadly that rumour you’ve heard about Andy’s leg break does appear to be true. The Mayo News will apparently have more on it tomorrow. It’s a desperately unlucky end to a great year for him but hopefully he’ll be able to hobble up on crutches to get his All-Star!
Diehard, Ontheroad – Of the players that were on display for yesterdays epic battle in Croke Park, 11 from were non senior clubs. I.E. – Intermediate or Junior clubs. Now – whether you like that piece of trivia or not – it is an astounding fact!
So if you’re looking for new faces, well the truth is there are always places to look and ways to get them on board. However it takes attitude, vision and leadership from people in position and administration to go down that road and get it to happen.
And the big question is – have we in Mayo got that? Honestly I don’t think so and it’s a biggest part of why we are where we are.
You figured my post wrong OnThe ROad….Not having a go at all – far from it. And apologies if I came across badly.
You are dead right. To go all the way we would need a couple of really top class forwards……at least. My problem is that I dont know where players of that calibre are to be found in Mayo at present.
I appreciate you’re away and wouldnt be too familiar with the club scene. I know most if not all the lads playing senior football and believe me its not easy to see who might be capable of stepping up to the level of the Brogans, the O Sullivans, Gooch etc.
We might just have to stick with most of whats there and hope some of them can develop into the type of player who will strike terror into any defence.
But I have to say I am not as optomistic as I was a few weeks ago. But of course that is not to say we quit! Football is a funny game and funny things can happen in a season. We may have to settle for hard graft and a dollop of luck here and there and hope it works out.
JPM – that is a very interesting statistic but not that astounding (- 11 players from Intermediate and Junior playing yesterday). Good players dont necessarily get born in parishes that have Senior Clubs. But taking account of that I would love someone to start naming potential Mayo players that have not come to attention to date.
Is there a suggestion that James Horan and his management have not paid attention to players in the lower divisions? I dontknow enough about JH to say if that is true or not.
Diehard – you call that fact interesting but not astounding. Ok – I won’t argue with you on semantics although I found it pretty astounding. I also think it should be a hugely significant eye-opener to all counties that roughly 33% or 1/3 of what was on display yesterday came from lower divisional teams within those counties.
You also asked the question as to whether there was a suggestion that James Horan and his management have not paid attention to players in the lower divisions. I am not saying that. I am just pointing out an answer to your question that the talent is out there in our county as well, if the willingness to harness it was pursued.
Also I am not going to be so presumptuous as to suggest that JH has not gone and looked at different levels for this talent. But JH is now one of the main leaders within the Mayo GAA scheme so he does have the opportunity to effect change.
However he cannot do this on his own. Significant attitude and mindset shifts have to take place for it to happen. And fundamental structure and change would be required at senior levels. And that is the where the lack leadership and vision I am talking about exists.
But the original statistic I put forward is accurate so therefore the facts speak for themselves. And as a result the truth remains that if it were organised properly in Mayo then the talent would come through.
Just a thought….reading the ‘Western’ during the Summer months; from all the match reports rarely did a member of the senior panel make a “man of the match” ….is this just poor punditry????
If we had genuine talent lurking around at lower levels then surely we would be more competitive than we currently are at junior level.
If I recall correctly, Sligo won the junior AI last year and because of that had to virtually find a whole new team that was still good enough to dispatch our lads in this years Junior connacht final.
Sligo beat us this year all right but a lot of their players I believe were playing at Senior grade for Senior clubs. Whereas someone pointed out to me that none of our Mayo Junior team were playing at that grade. They were all Intermediate or Junior level.
The fact is Intermediate and Junior level players in Mayo are not offered the opportunity to play together regularly at Senior Level.
For the record here is the list from yesterday.
Anthony Maher – Duagh – (plays with Feale Rangers in Senior championship)
Bryan Sheehan – St. Marys – (plays for South Kerry in Senior championship)
Darran O’Sullivan – Glenbeigh/Glencar – (plays for Mid Kerry in Senior championship)
Donnchadh Walsh – Cromane – (plays for Mid Kerry in Senior championship)
Declan O’Sullivan – Piarsaigh na Dromada – (plays for West Kerry in Senior championship)
Marc Ó Sé – An Ghaeltacht – (plays for West Kerry in Senior championship)
Tomás Ó Sé – An Ghaeltacht – (plays for West Kerry in Senior championship)
Paul Galvin – Finuge – (plays with Feale Rangers in Senior championship)
Killian Young – Renard – (plays for South Kerry in Senior championship)
Michael Fitzsimons – Cuala – Intermediate.
Bryan Cullen – Skerries Harps – Intermediate
It would be interesting to see how many of this list would make it onto our senior county panel.
There was a bit of talk about this point at the same time last year as a good number of Cork’s then victorious All-Ireland team were also junior and intermediate club footballers. It’s something that definitely needs to be looked at, because if you look at the spread of clubs represented at minor level compared to senior you can immediately see that it’s only at minor that junior and intermediate get any kind of look in. We must be losing players as a result and if the likes of Dublin, Cork and Kerry are able to find talented players from junior and intermediate clubs to line out at inter-county level we should be able to do the same. Like ontheroad, I haven’t lived within the county for a long time so I wouldn’t have any insight into who might be slipping through the net but I’m sure others would.
Lads just a point on one Mr Joe Mc Quillan if i can , Dublin played six games in this years championship of which he reffereed 4 ! Have heard form a reliable source too that he has been out reffing dublin A v B games also !! You always need luck to win anything … but with aside from the free that never was against Kildare, croke park opening for dublin league games and vodafone sponsoring them to the tune of Euro 1 million a year it does raise an eyebrow or two for me at least..Listening to Tommy carr last night on newstalk was interesting and he made a worthwhile comment i think … If the shoe had been on the other foot and kerry had got the free’s that dublin had got to win in the manner in which they did … would there be a little more uproar ? yes Kerry have thousands of all ireland medals and remembering all those horrible days that I have endured as a mayo fan at the hands of Kerry over the years, Im not as crest fallen as I might be …. This isn’t sour grapes, admittedly I am not a fan of the game the dubs incorporate but importantly it has won the day and that is ultimately what its all about …
Whatever about Sunday, McQuillan gave Dublin very little in the quarter-final against Tyrone – the free count against Dublin in the second half of that game was very high, if I’m not mistaken. Going back to last Sunday, I think a major point (which Kevin McStay highlighted on The Sunday Game) was that he gave frees both ways for things that weren’t fouls at all. The final one from which Cluxton kicked the winner was charitable in the extreme but the likes of Darran O’Sullivan and the Gooch are well able to fall theatrically at the right moment (and did so last Sunday too, in particular O’Sullivan) so they can’t have any complaints about opponents playing the ref to their advantage.
Really sad news about andy moran, if theres one consolation it’s that it happened at a good time from a football point of view (not that its ever a good time to break a leg). Hopefully he will be back in flying form next spring.
Dublin really surprised me on sunday. Was delighted for them, unlike previous Dublin sides theres very few showboaters in this team. Cluxton held his nerve brilliantly. Johnny Sexton could do a lot worse that having a look at how he kicks, no fancy shapes or little gimmicky run ups, just put the ball on the ground and kick it over the bar, no bullshit.
Disagree with thise posters saying Mayo are further away from winning an AI as a result of sundays game. Players like Bryan Cullen, Barry Cahill and Alan Brogan were written off many times in the past as not being good enough to win an AI medal yet after so many years of failure there they were on the steps of the Hogan stand last Sunday. There a lesson to be learned there; we should not make knee jerk reactions to get rid of guys who have failed in the past for Mayo. The like of Alan Dillon and Trevor mortimer, and even Conor Mortimer still have key roles to play in this Mayo set-up over the next 3 or 4 years hopefully.
Even 2 years ago the likes of Kevin Nolan and Dennis Bastick didnt even look like distant cousins of All ireland winners but look at them last Sunday.
The Junior/Intermediate clubs issue is something i have felt strongly about for a long time. The history of the game is littered with greats who came from non senior clubs. Mick o Dwyer plucked a certain Bomber Liston from a Junior Club called Beale back in the 70s, and he went on to become one of the best forwards of all time. Heck even Maurice Fitz never played senior club football for his club. The point is that if a guy of that talent was born into a club like Kilmovee, or The Neale, or Cill Chomain, would he be identified at a young age and developed by the structures currently in place within the county to capture the best talent from underage club level, and developed properly to ensure he ended up playing senior intercounty football for Mayo??