2021 AI Senior Football Championship - Non-Kerry Games

[veteran]

Ritchie Donnelly and Ruairi Brennan are again missing from the Tyrone panel today as they were against Kerry. Perhaps, Tyrone do deserve some sympathy in connection with this virus situation.

[gaelicden]

Does this Mayo curse actually exist?

[john4]

Is it just me or has a certain amount of holding after becoming allowed. Even hands over the shoulder.

[gaelicden]

That third quarter would cure insomnia I'd tell ya. In the last few moments it's gotten interesting...

Do you know what this final reminds me of? Cork v Down 2010. Croke Park will be hoping for Kerry v Dublin next year.

[otobeawinner]

Congrats to Tyrone.Mayo simply didn't take their chances. Let's be grown ups about this. Both our semi and this were lost on the field. Tyrone will do anything to win, Mayo or kerry would have won if they were smart enough to do half of what Tyrone are willing to do.
A side note but pat is so far up Sean C's h**e it's sick. And Sean is some pundit ,as neutral as the players themselves. A complete joke rte are at this stage.

[gaelicden]

We've been installed as favourites for the All Ireland in 2022, a long way to go I know but we better get yerrahing 😂😂.

Edit: they've flipped our odds with Dublin, we're now second favourites, great Yerrah in an hour. The odds are very close though so I think the bookies are expecting a backlash from the two overall top counties next year.

[Mickmack]

Congrats to Tyrone.

Thoroughly deserved to win this final.

They kicked some fantastic scores and were more efficient in that aspect.

They are able to defend and they are able to go on the offensive and take their scores.

Even had Mayo scored the penalty i dont think Mayo would have won it.

Dublin will be sick tonight.

They would surely have been better that Mayo and Dublin will probably be back in next years final.

[gaelicden]

Darren McCurry scored 1-4 this evening giving him a championship haul of 1-30. He needed 3 more points to beat Sean O'Shea's championship haul, therefore Sean O'Shea is the 2021 All Ireland Championship top scorer with 2-29.

[royalkerryfan]

Sept 11, 2021 18:29:35 GMT gaelicden said:

Darren McCurry scored 1-4 this evening giving him a championship haul of 1-30. He needed 3 more points to beat Sean O'Shea's championship haul, therefore Sean O'Shea is the 2021 All Ireland Championship top scorer with 2-29.

Mccurry did it in Ulster.

[hatchetman]

Sept 11, 2021 18:29:35 GMT gaelicden said:

Darren McCurry scored 1-4 this evening giving him a championship haul of 1-30. He needed 3 more points to beat Sean O'Shea's championship haul, therefore Sean O'Shea is the 2021 All Ireland Championship top scorer with 2-29.

Which is harsh on McCurry considering the opposition he faced.

[Ballyfireside]

Even yours truly who said it was too unpredictable got it wrong - Mayo just can't close big games out. I feel for them but Tyrone won nearly every aspect, from Goalie to FF.

I felt at least as excited as if we were involved and while it was close, as an AI final was it a good one?

Future looks bright though and we now have more teams in Tier 1 though I feel the top teams have come back and a few mi9d tiers have moved up a step.

There are some amazing days ahead and we will be involved; and we will come out the right side if we get our act together as we probably have the best purist footballers when they get going. Our forwards would have had a field day in AI final if we had maybe another hoor type player, ala Donaghy, PG, O'6s, AOM, etc.

The Sky panel were adamant that Tyrone's success was won with what happened 'em, in Killarney. Likewise our destiny in 2022 will be decided by what management we put in place.

[Premier]

Any chance Kerry could sneak a few forward All-stars now as some consolation for the year. Not many forwards today lit it up. Realistically McKenna, Donnelly, O’Neill and probably won’t get one. For Mayo O’Shea, McLoughlin, Walsh, O’Connor won’t get any either.
Big guess now with zero thinking into it;
Morgan
O’Hora
McNamee
Hampsey
Keegan
McGeary
White
Ruane
?
Meyler
P. Clifford
Sludden
McCurry
Conroy
O’Donoghue

[kerrybhoy06]

Sept 11, 2021 17:14:50 GMT gaelicden said:

Does this Mayo curse actually exist?

The curse of never producing good forwards?

[misteallaigh abú]

I thought that Mayo would be able to see it out today but, again, they played with fear and panic, missed chances and lost composure as the game wore on. Similar, in many ways to the way our play became as our semi final drew to a conclusion. We had a David Clifford to keep us in the game, Mayo didn’t.
I spoke to my Dad yesterday evening, a die hard Mayo fan who unfortunately is no longer able for the travel to matches. He was a bundle of nerves and told me that he couldn’t see where Mayo were going to get the scores from. How right he was, unfortunately. My heart breaks for him and all Mayo people. I know only too well the huge desire that there is among them to see Sam Maguire return to Mayo. At this stage, it looks like they won’t be getting over the line any time soon.
Tyrone played like they didn’t rate Mayo, played with a brazenness and intent that, allied to a superbly organised play plan, saw them win comfortably. They are thoroughly deserving All Ireland champions. Their bench made their mark, Mayo’s was ineffective.

Kerry the only team I’ve seen in Croke Park this year with players going down with cramp with plenty of time left on the clock….. You’d have to wonder how that could be.

[Mickmack]

Malachy Clerkin

Tyrone 2-14 Mayo 0-15

You don’t get many more unlikely All-Irelands than this. Tyrone, a year after the end of the Mickey Harte era ended. Tyrone, a month after they had decided they had no option but to pull out of the championship. Tyrone, who faced the last three Ulster champions and two teams they hadn’t beaten in 13 years in Kerry and Mayo. That same Tyrone are now All-Ireland champions.

When it came right down to it here, they scored the goals that Mayo spent their day missing. Cathal McShane and Darren McCurry palmed/fisted home their opportunities in the second half to separate the Ulster champions from a Mayo side that will spend another winter grimacing and keening over so many missed opportunities. James Horan’s side made a mess of four goal chances including a penalty. That’s never going to get it done.

Tyrone won’t worry about that. This was no classic but it was all they needed. It surprised nobody that long stretches of this one were taut and tense, cranked tight like nuts on a car-wheel. There were turnovers and tackles, misses and mistakes. Both found it hard to find the freedom the biggest day demands. If you’re gonna have jailbreak, you’re gonna have to do some time.

Mayo’s Lee Keegan with Darren McCurry of Tyrone. Photo: Tommy Dickson/Inpho
Mayo’s Lee Keegan with Darren McCurry of Tyrone. Photo: Tommy Dickson/Inpho
Mayo actually looked to have settled better early on. After conceding a goal in just 13 seconds last year, they came up with a score of their own in the same length of time here. Aidan O’Shea won the throw-in and picked out Tommy Conroy and the bucking young forward ran Paudie Hampsey and kicked a boomer to get things going. When Ryan O’Donoghue iced a testing free soon after, it was clear that Mayo’s strike men had found their feet early.


But Tyrone don’t go away. Never have, never will. Niall Morgan landed a free from the Clonliffe Road, Hampsey sallied forward and got on the end of a gorgeous kick pass from his full-back line partner Ronan McNamee to nail one of his own. When Darren McCurry stuck his first free of the day again on 10 minutes, the Ulster champions were 0-3 to 0-2 ahead. They were never behind again.

Ahead and playing the better stuff, all in all. Morgan was getting plenty of joy out of his kick-outs, especially going long to Conn Kilpatrick and Brian Kennedy around the middle. Rob Hennelly was having to squeeze more out of less when it came to the Mayo ones.

For all that, it was Mayo who found themselves with the game’s first goal chance. O’Donoghue was buzzing around the place looking for mischief and when he laced a smart ball inside to Bryan Walsh on 15 minutes, the Mayo wing-forward was all alone inside. He hesitated and gave Morgan a chance to hassle him, meaning that when the ball squirted loose, the goal was gaping for Conor Loftus. He snatched at it however and Niall Sludden got back to clear it off the line.

O’Donoghue followed up with his second point soon after but McCurry hit straight back with a point from the Tyrone kick-out. Kieran McGeary landed one from distance and Sludden slotted a couple of assured kicks from out on the left. Paddy Durcan and an O’Donoghue free kept Mayo in it but it was all flowing more smoothly for Tyrone.

Niall Morgan celebrates his side’s first goal. Photo: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
Niall Morgan celebrates his side’s first goal. Photo: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho
They could have trampolined away if McCurry had been more clinical on the half-hour mark. A brilliant long ball from Morgan was flicked on by Conor McKenna, leaving McCurry one-on-one with Hennelly. He tried a low one but the Mayo keeper got his right leg out.


To-and-fro, back and forth. Pádraig O’Hora was lucky not to see a black card giving away a free that McCurry pointed. Mayo were unlucky not to get a penalty for a Kieran McGeary free just outside the large square. It all washed out as a 0-10 to 0-8 half-time lead for Tyrone.

Mayo will kick themselves for the third quarter. They came with the full blood and thunder routine and didn’t get anywhere near enough for it. Conroy skinned Hampsey to get in on goal and pulled his shot wide on 39 minutes. In pretty much the next breath, a long ball into the Tyrone goalmouth caused a scramble and when Frank Burns fell on the ball on the goalline, Joe McQuillan spread his arms wide.

This was it. Mayo were coming, they had had all the play and all the momentum since the restart - all they needed was the goal that would put them ahead. But O’Donoghue’s shot was high and right and instead of the top corner, he struck the junction of crossbar and post. Hennelly finally landed a free from 60 metres soon after to get the second half scoring underway in the 45th minute but Mayo had to feel it was half a loaf.

Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue misses a penalty. Photo: James Crombie/Inpho
Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue misses a penalty. Photo: James Crombie/Inpho
And when a goal did come, it came at the other end two minutes later. Cathal McShane came off the bench and went in at the edge of the square. He pulled a perfect heel dig to get in behind Oisín Mullin and got a perfect flick to Conor Meyler’s ball in. Everything about it was what Tyrone would have wanted - the ideal introduction, the stunning delivery from Meyler, the subtlest of touches from McShane.

Tyrone led now by 1-10 to 0-9 and although Mayo hit back with the next score - an O’Donoghue free - they didn’t have the composure to inch their way back into matters. Walsh blazed wide when a simple ball across could have brought a goal and a calm shot would have guaranteed a point. Loftus dropped one short and pulled two wide. It was a squanderfest.


By contrast, Tyrone gorged on the scraps they were able to get their hands on at the other end. On 59 minutes, Kilpatrick took a huge fetch from a Morgan kick-out and sent McKenna away. Two-on-one, an easy slip inside and McCurry tapped it home. An hour gone, Tyrone 2-10 Mayo 0-11.

Tyrone had only scored twice in the 25 minutes since half-time. Both of them were goals. Mayo kept at it but the misses drained the spirit from them. Add it all up and it was the winning and losing of the day.

So off they go, the first All-Ireland to cross the border since they did it themselves in 2008. A month ago, they were full sure they were withdrawing from the competition. Now they are champions. Some story. Some team.

Tyrone: 1. Niall Morgan (0-3, two frees, one 45); 2. Michael McKernan, 3. Ronan McNamee , 4. Pádraig Hampsey (capt; 0-1); 6. Peter Harte (0-1, mark), 7. Kieran McGeary (0-1), 5. Frank Burns; 8. Brian Kennedy, 9. Conn Kilpatrick; 11. Michael O’Neill, 12. Niall Sludden (0-2), 10. Conor Meyler; 13. Darren McCurry (1-4, two points frees), 14. Mattie Donnelly (0-1), 15. Conor McKenna.

Subs: 23. Cathal McShane (1-0) for Kennedy (44 mins), 18. Darragh Canavan (0-1) for O’Neill (53 mins), 22. McDonnell for Kennedy (57 mins), 19. Paul Donaghy for McKenna (66 mins), 21. Tiarnan McCann for Kilpatrick (73 mins),

Mayo: 1. Rob Hennelly (0-1, free); 3. Lee Keegan (0-1), 6. Stephen Coen (0-1), 2. Pádraig O’Hora, 4. Michael Plunkett, 19. Oisín Mullen, 5. Patrick Durcan (0-1); 8. Matthew Ruane, 10. Diarmuid O’Connor; 9. Conor Loftus, 13. Kevin McLaughlin (0-1), 12. Bryan Walsh, 14. Tommy Conroy (0-1), 11. Aidan O’Shea (capt), 15. Ryan O’Donoghue (0-8, seven frees).

Subs: 7. Enda Hesion (0-1) for Plunkett (half-time), 21. Jordan Flynn for O’Hora (52 mins), 24. Darren Coen for Walsh (58 mins), 25. Aidan Orme for Loftus (66 mins), 26. James Carr for McLoughlin (74 mins).


Referee: Joe McQuillan (Cavan).

[Mickmack]

New thinking stirs new Tyrone into a potent cocktail


The thirst for tragedy will demand that Mayo’s final meltdown commands much of the analysis, but truly this was an All-Ireland masterclass from Messrs Logan and Dooher


SAT, 11 SEP, 2021 - 21:07
TONY LEEN, CROKE PARK
Tyrone. They’d mind mice at the crossroads, wouldn’t they? Live under a sparrow’s wing. There may be all manner of reference points from where Saturday’s fourth All-Ireland title, came from, from June’s mauling in Killarney to the whole Covid conundrum.

But in the art - and that it is - of delivering the best of themselves in the most intense crucible, frankly this was peerless.

Individuals subjugating themselves for the greater good, no matter the cost. The trick to holding your hand over a lighting candle until the flesh burns, a Washington socialite was once asked?

The trick’s not minding.

The thirst for tragedy will demand that Mayo’s final meltdown commands much of the analysis, but truly this was an All-Ireland masterclass from Messrs Logan, Dooher and their players.

There was never a moment when they looked rattled or vulnerable to being torpedoed off course. In that regard, the missed penalty by Mayo’s Ryan O’Donoghue in the 42nd minute cannot be overlooked. It was Tyrone’s gut-check moment and would have catapulted Mayo into a lead for the first time since the game’s early exchanges.

The penalty miss was followed within four minutes by the first goal for Tyrone. That it was in such close proximity isn’t the most painful part for James Horan and co as they reflect on the county’s 14th loss in an All-Ireland decider and their 11th since the last victory in 1951.

It was that a precise aerial delivery from Conor Meyler over the Mayo cover was flicked to the net by Cathal McShane. At several points in the first half, Aidan O’Shea drifted into such advanced areas for Mayo, one on one with Ronan McNamee. Not once did Mayo test McNamee’s pulse. The first time Mayo threw O’Shea a bone, it was closer to his ankles than over his head.


Gaelic football is a tremendously precise pursuit nowadays and the thought of doing anything as reckless and irresponsible as testing the opposition defence’s handling skills is anathema to many inter-county coaches.

Tyrone, under the new management of Brian Dooher and Fergal Logan seem to be stirring their game into an agreeable and efficient mix. The second, and decisive goal, came from a booming Niall Morgan kickout, flicked on by the excellent Kilpatrick to McKenna who placed Darren McCurry for the easy finish.

Tyrone are turning into a footballing foxtrot: slow, slow, quick, quick slow. When they set up offensive plays, it is because of their proficiency in the essential art: shooting. Kieran McGeary and Padraig Hampsey rounded off two drawn out and very deliberate bouts of Tyrone possession in the first period to kick a pair of wonderful points.

The Ulster champions led 0-10 to 0-8 at the break. When Mayo scored after 16 seconds, Tyrone’s corner forward Darren McCurry felt the cold drape of Padraig O Hora’s sarcasm around his shoulder. How does that feel, wee man? Mayo laughs didn’t last long. McCurry was at the sharp end when Tyrone went in search of a spearpoint, kicking points and winning frees. The Edendork man of the match laughed last, with 1-4.

As frenetic and threatening as Mayo looked going forward in the first period, everyone had Tyrone shadows for company. The eye-to-hand co-ordination of the defending was startling at times but when Mayo moved the ball from back to front, they created openings.

Including the penalty miss, Horan’s men passed up four proper goals chances over the piece, even if one was a brilliant block by Niall Sludden from Conor Loftus. Earlier Ronan McNamee did a passable impression of Conor Gormley circa 2003 in denying Aidan O’Shea. The Breaffy man might have let McNamee slide on by and had an easier finish but Mayo is a footballing memoir of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ at this stage.


Tommy Conroy burst clear of the Tyrone cover three minutes after the break but pulled his goal effort wide. Even O’Donoghue’s penalty run up seemed to have put keeper Morgan on his backside, and yet the fates laughed harder still.

The profligacy only served to emphasise Tyrone’s admirable decision-making in the key passages. With ten minutes remaining, Mayo were still alive, 2-10 to 0-13 in arrears but Tyrone went long in search of Peter Harte and he pulled down a superb mark, which he converted.

By their standards of exactitude, Darren McCurry’s goal chance in the 31st minute, only denied by Rob Hennelly’s flailing right leg, was prosecutable under the Offences against the State Act. McCurry could have scooped up possession, delivered via another Morgan boomer and a McKenna flick (notice the pattern?), and sat Hennelly down. Late on, with the story of the summer almost written, Darragh Canavan had a goal chance smothered but McCurry tidied up the afters to ensure Tyrone left with something tangible.

“June 12 seems like a year ago,” Logan said afterwards in relation to the six goal mauling Tyrone shipped against Kerry in Killarney. “We learned a lot about movement, and cuts and intensity and we had a great night afterwards in Killarney. We were lucky it was a League semi and not the cut-throat of championship. And we learned against Cavan, Donegal, Monaghan and then Kerry again before today.”

It’s all rather Lazarus. As convincing as Tyrone’s final performance was, and the six-point margin it delivered, Logan wasn’t beyond addressing the idea that they had ridden their luck at times along the way, quoting Paidi O Se and his grain of rice. There was an acknowledgement too that the surge and impetus from the semi-final was immeasurable.

What for Mayo now? What damage does this cause a county that, in football terms, has been ravaged and burned already? Not many saw the second coming of Horan delivering another All-Ireland opportunity but this time there was no Dublin or Kerry awaiting them in the final. Cautious final hope gave way to great expectation.

It was a scenario relished in Garvaghy, where football’s great dream-wreckers were lab-testing September strategy.

And perfecting their final performance.


MORE IN THIS SECTION

[southward]

Lads,

Was I hearing things or was Paudie Hampsey's victory speech being booed by some people today? Pretty low if it was.

[gaelicden]

Just watching The Sunday Game highlights there. Did I just see one Peter Keane attending the game? He's perfectly entitled to anyway.

[veteran]

Sincere congratulations to Tyroneperson and Dermot. A deserved and convincing win. Amid all the shenanigans about the virus and all the talk about their ability to transition from a claustrophobic defence to a lightning attack, it is not highlighted often enough that most of these Tyrone players are among the most skillful in the land. A case in point today was when Nial Morgan swept out to intercept a Tyrone attack, sweeper like , and then delivered a huge, low trajectory kick to young McCurry who should have goaled. It was perfect football by Nial.

It will be interesting to see if this team can do what their noughties team failed to do- two in a row.

No words of mine will console Mayo. I cannot imagine the depth of their heartbreak.

From a Kerry standpoint, this match underlined what I have said here after our Tyrone match. The gap we need to bridge to attain ultimate success is razor thin. I look forward with optimism.

[southward]

Sept 5, 2021 13:06:59 GMT Mickmack said:

Sept 5, 2021 13:05:30 GMT Mickmack said:

www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/arid-40371416.html

Seamus might want to look no further than his brother.

This is why Mayo can't win an AI. This crap.

Maybe if O'Shea had his Baywatch outfit on today, we might have noticed him out there.

Horan obviously learned nothing from the s/f. Or from any of the other big days in Croke Park either. Left him on for the full 70 and yet another clean sheet on AI Final day.

[dc84]

Sept 11, 2021 20:35:54 GMT Premier said:

Any chance Kerry could sneak a few forward All-stars now as some consolation for the year. Not many forwards today lit it up. Realistically McKenna, Donnelly, O’Neill and probably won’t get one. For Mayo O’Shea, McLoughlin, Walsh, O’Connor won’t get any either.
Big guess now with zero thinking into it;
Morgan
O’Hora
McNamee
Hampsey
Keegan
McGeary
White
Ruane
?
Meyler
P. Clifford
Sludden
McCurry
Conroy
O’Donoghue

Hmm hard one what will be the split? Does the league matter? id say kerry nominees
Clifford,
Tom sull ,
seanie,
paudie,
white ,
o connor
I'd include foley but others might disagree

Of the rest
Tyrone
Morgan
Mcnamee
Hampsey
Mcgreary
Mccurry
Kilpatrick
Meyler
Sludden
Mckiernan

Mayo
O hora
Donoghue
Keegan
Hennelly
Conroy
Ruane
Durcan

Dublin
Fitzsimons
Kilkenny
O Callaghan ( league)
Costello
Paddy small
Fenton

Others
Tierney Galway
Sean Kelly gy
Paul Kelly gy
Beggan Mon
Mcmanus mon
Mcarthy mon
One of the o neill armagh
Mckaigue dy
Mcguigan dy
Keoghan my
Flynn ke

[gaelicden]

Sept 11, 2021 21:24:41 GMT southward said:

Sept 5, 2021 13:06:59 GMT Mickmack said:

Seamus might want to look no further than his brother.

This is why Mayo can't win an AI. This crap.

Maybe if O'Shea had his Baywatch outfit on today, we might have noticed him out there.

Horan obviously learned nothing from the s/f. Or from any of the other big days in Croke Park either. Left him on for the full 70 and yet another clean sheet on AI Final day.

Was it this forum I read the term "James Horan came to cut the bullsh*t with Mayo" or was it some other website? That piece reminds me of the 2000s Dubs.

Good news, the Mother saw it last Sunday and kept the magazine safe for me to have a read of. Maybe I'll have a good laugh while reading it now😂

[Mickmack]

Premium
No more excuses please from football’s great time wasters

Joe Brolly
Mayo is full of cliques and favourites as culture will not change under Horan who made Tyrone’s job easy

September 11 2021 10:08 PM
Time wasters. A lot of other counties would give their right arms to be here. The people of Mayo put their heart and soul into their team. And this is what they get?
A manager on the sideline making choices based on political considerations. A protected captain who does not lead and never will.

Substituting Pádraig O’Hora in the 51st minute after he had surged forward to win a free inside the Tyrone half and had been taking the game to Tyrone? Leaving passengers on the field?

It was embarrassing and enraging, even if it was inevitable. The shame is that with a high-performance culture based on merit, Mayo could be so much more than this. I got a text from Pat Gilroy on the final whistle. It said “culture”.



At the highest level, the best culture wins. Which is why, in the end, a middling Tyrone team still learning their trade won easily. They are serious.

With Dooher, Logan and Peter Canavan leading the group, there is a merciless search for success. No passengers. No favourites. Winning big games, as they know, is war without guns.

The six in-a-row Dubs might have been highly skilled, highly conditioned, and expertly coached, but they would not have won without bringing war. Tyrone were up for it. Mayo, with a few exceptions, were not. How could they be? They have too many distractions.

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The game was finally over in the 25th minute. Aidan O’Shea was presented with the easiest goal chance I have seen in a final. The Tyrone keeper was caught out and had left his goal empty, chasing back fearing the worst.

His life must have flashed before his eyes. He needn’t have worried. “Oh for f**k sake” the Mayo man beside me said. My brother Proinsias texted me, “As I said our boy”.

When there are individuals who are undroppable and a manager has favourites, cliques form and it is not a team.

The players know this, and the true bonds of loyalty and togetherness that are compulsory for success are missing.

The manager talks a good game but it is merely talk. I feel bad for Mayo and its people and its wonderful clubs but until this malaise is rooted out, this will continue to be their reality.



Straws will be clutched at. Mayo missed a penalty when they were two points down. But when everything isn’t right, nothing is right.

The feeling of liberation at the absence of Dublin and the hope that Mayo might perform was soon replaced with a feeling that nothing has changed. Tyrone, all calm and composed and ruthless when it came to it, won by five points.

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It could have been worse, if for the second game in a row, the ‘Son of God’ hadn’t missed what for him was an easy goal chance.

I have watched him with excitement since he was a teenager and have never seen him miss a goal chance. It must be the Carrickmore in him. He has his first Sam Maguire already. His father, who did not win his first until he was 33, must be well pleased.

I wrote last week that what happened in the last quarter of the Dublin game and in extra-time was not a game plan. It was a crazy, unpredictable, emotional energy that an underdog sometimes taps into.

Tyrone, meanwhile, gloved Kerry, with a miraculous performance from David Clifford keeping Kerry in it. Finals are unsentimental affairs. It is kill or be killed. It is culture v culture. And when one team’s philosophy is not based on the principles of logic and merit, defeat is inevitable. The back-to-the-drawing-board bull* does not cut it.

Good culture is the backdrop for the decisive contributions that are required to win an All-Ireland. I think of the Meath team of Colm O’Rourke, all loyalty and stubbornness and refusal to accept defeat, winning All-Irelands against better teams on paper.

Or the 2008 Tyrone team. Or Down of 1991. Or us in 1993. Or the Dubs from 2011 onwards. Mayo’s manager will say, “We lost by a point” or “we missed a penalty” or “we couldn’t repeat our semi-final performance” but this is just bull*.

Tyrone, a team picked on merit, with a culture of heads down, no commercial distractions and playing for the people of Tyrone, easily won. Two expertly-taken goals will be the headline, but the truth is that their culture is a world away from their opposition’s.

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There were any number of moments where we turned to each other and said, “Well that’s the end of that”, but the truth is that this contest was over before it began.

Tyrone came in at half-time two up, after O’Hora had surged forward defiantly to win a 20-metre free that Ryan O’Donoghue easily converted. But the wheels of this sentimental, public-relations merry-go-round came off altogether in the second half.

McShane came on and fisted a superb goal from a terrific long diagonal ball. The ‘Son of God’ came on shortly afterwards and played with the precision and expertise one would expect from a Canavan.

The inevitable second Tyrone goal followed, a thrilling long kick-out from Morgan leading to an expertly-taken finish. Calm, precise, serious. Just what you’d expect from a serious team.

Thing is, Tyrone did not expect to be All-Ireland champions at the start of this season. But when they got Mayo in the final, they knew, and we knew, that it was going to happen. In the end, it is a question of culture.

Under this manager, Mayo are time wasters. Soul destroying for good footballers and good clubs. Soul destroying for the people.

[Annascaultilidie]

I thought Tyrone were fierce Zen today.

[veteran]

Nobody dances on a grave like Joe Brolly dances on a grave.

[gaelicden]

Thanks to the power of Google Lens, I can share the magazine article to everyone here. It appeared on the 29th August edition of the Sunday World Magazine+ (day after Kerry v Tyrone) so it does talk a bit about the potential of playing either, but focuses more on facing Kerry (interview done during the week before). He also plugs some phone repair website into the article. Google lens won't let me add the photos though😂

"MY GIRLFRIEND IS FROM KERRY-BUT I HAVE HER CONVERTED!"
Ready for the roar in Croke Park Aidan O'Shea is the Mayo man hoping to lead his county to an historic All-Ireland win but he's taking the pressure in his stride. writes Deirdre Reynolds

IF you thought it was tense between Dublin and Mayo at Croke Park, try being in Aidan O'Shea's house ahead of next month's All-Ireland final. The Mayo captain is loved up with model and Kerry native Kristin McKenzie Vass, who now faces the dilemma of who to shout for should the two teams go head-to-head as expected on September 11.

Unless Tyrone caused an upset at yes terday's rescheduled semi-final, she'll be modelling green and red-not green and gold-Aidan joked, when the county bids to finally break the infamous Curse. "Kristin moved to Mayo last March," he tells. "She was doing a masters in Dublin but it went virtual, so she moved in here.

"It's been great. It would have been strange, especially in the initial lockdown, being by myself here in the house, so it's the ideal thing for both of us. "She's from Tralee. Mam and Dad are from Kerry as well, [but] we have her converted anyway, so it's alright!"

There were All-Ireland-style scenes across the country when James Horan's men put an end to Dublin's dreams of seven in a row earlier this month, with the prospect of #Mayo4Sam now tantalisingly closer than ever.
And while the Breaffy player insists that the supposed hex placed on the team in 1951 doesn't bother the new generation of players, including James Carr (21) and Tommy Conroy (21), breaking it by bringing the Sam Maguire west of the Shannon for the first time in 70 years would be extra sweet following the hardship of lockdown. "Absolutely, there's always that element to it, of course," concedes Aidan of the added pressure of making GAA history. "But it's important for us to kind of segregate ourselves from what's been in the past or what people like to talk about.

"It's not something that we can control. There's lads there that were born in the 2000s that don't think about that stuff, so it's easy not to think about it.

"This team is totally different as well it's fresh, it's young. I think this is kind of a new term in terms of this Mayo team. So I don't think any of that stuff will matter in a couple of weeks time if it's Kerry or Tyrone. "We've never gone in [to a game] with that kind of mindset. We've always been very positive and expecting to win, so nothing will change there."

After months of training alone and play ing to empty stadiums as the pandemic raged, the thing the 31-year-old is most looking forward to, however, is the roar of a 40,000-strong crowd.

Sure to be cheering the loudest of all as her daddy bids to lead Mayo to victory is his daughter, Caragh (7), from a previous relationship.

"She's playing for my local team, Breaffy, as well," says proud dad Aidan, who is also a senior planning manager at Allergen, a pharmaceutical company in Westport.

"She's into it; I'm not sure if she's as into it as I am, but she does enjoy Saturday mornings playing with her teammates. It's early doors yet, but it's good just to have kids out active and partaking in sport."

The shredded footballer credits sea swimming with helping to keep him in shape, mentally and physically, after gyms and group training fell victim to Covid.

Smartphone repair company Pair Mobile, which also fixes tablets and laptops, came to his rescue when his lifeline to his 112k followers on social media also accidentally went for a dip during lockdown. "I peak and trough," says Aidan of his relationship with his iPhone. "You actually don't realise how long you're on it.

"Some weeks, I'm not too bad, but then I can be at times. I use it more for reading news and listening to podcasts and differ ent bits and bobs. It's a one-stop shop for everything really."

Just don't expect a retirement announce ment on Twitter any time soon, as the star reveals he's not planning to follow in the footsteps of Mayo legends such as Donal Vaughan and Seamus O'Shea, who hung up their Elverys jerseys earlier this year.

"We're lucky that [our] professional career is as important as playing for Mayo," explains Aidan, who is in the clear for the final after avoiding sanction over his pitch incursion during the semi-final. "It's not like [our] football career ends, and we stop and go, 'OK, what to do now?'

"Of course, you're always conscious that this will end and I'd like to think I'll be in a good place professionally once that happens. It's not something that I'm planning on anytime soon. We'll see."

Until then, there's the small matter of the Sam, and the Westerners' eleventh final since last lifting the trophy, which their captain is determined to enjoy.

"At this stage, I'm playing for a while, [so] there wouldn't be too much nervous energy there," smiles Aidan. "Your mind set is that the work is done. Now it's lace up- and go out and enjoy it."

See pairmobile.ie for more

[sullyschoice]

Sept 11, 2021 21:05:19 GMT gaelicden said:

Just watching The Sunday Game highlights there. Did I just see one Peter Keane attending the game? He's perfectly entitled to anyway.

You did

[gaelicden]

Sunday Game team of the year, 2 Kerry Players; P. Clifford and D. Clifford. I get Paudie being included, had a great first season but David?

8 Tyrone, 4 Mayo, 2 Kerry, 1 Dublin overall

[sullyschoice]

I find Joe Brolly to be a easily dislikeable character

[veteran]

Sept 11, 2021 22:42:50 GMT gaelicden said:

Sunday Game team of the year, 2 Kerry Players; P. Clifford and D. Clifford. I get Paudie being included, had a great first season but David?

8 Tyrone, 4 Mayo, 2 Kerry, 1 Dublin overall

Regarding David , just to mention two of his games, did you see him against Dublin in the NFL and against Tyrone in the semifinal?

I agree these selections are a farce. Revolves around the final and to a lesser extent the semifinals.