Tight margins but still no sign of Sam
IT was that sinking post-1983 final feeling all over again as the thousands of maroon supporters trundled out of Croke Park shortly after 5pm last Sunday with bowed heads and tightened lips.
With no Kerry or Dublin in the final this was a golden chance for either Galway or Armagh to take home Sam, but when push came to shove, it was the Ulster champions who had the bottle to win the tightest of contests.
Back in 1983, Dublin won one of the most rancorous and untidy All-Ireland finals every played . . . but there really is only one consolation from a poor match . . . and that’s to win it.
Last Sunday, as Croke Park rocked and heaved on a most benign July day with the temperatures touching the low 20s, there was no repeat of the vitriol of ’83 – this time around, referee Seán Hurson, only had to issue one yellow card.
While Galway might have complaints about refereeing decisions and being roughed up in ’83, there could be no whingeing about last Sunday’s outcome. Every Galway supporter I met came up with the same conclusion: “We had our chance and we blew it.” A raw analysis but a true one.
Tyrone referee Seán Hurson did us, or Armagh, no wrong, letting the play flow where he could, with his job made that bit easier by the attitudes of both sets of players – defensive, maybe even ponderous at times it might have been, but there was a refreshing absence of malice in the proceedings.
Dublin, on All-Ireland Final morning is a kind of mad place to be, and on more than a couple of occasions when I intended to drop into hostelries around the 1pm mark, not alone were the premises and curtilages crowded, but the streets were blocked off as well . . . with people.
Croke Park too, as the clock ticks past three bells on All-Ireland day, is a spot where electrons seem to fly around in the atmosphere putting a tingle of jizz and excitement into well-seasoned bones and nerve ends that should know better. Expectation and realisation become the giddiest of partners in those minutes before throw-in.
To win big matches, big players need to stand out and deliver big displays, and particularly so if they are forwards. We saw it all in ’98 and 2001 when the likes of Michael Donnellan, Pádraic Joyce and Jarlath Fallon delivered the Roy of the Rovers displays that young kids dream about.
Alas though, in the reality of sport, the reverse can also happen too. We all hoped . . . nay expected . . . the likes of Shane Walsh and Damien Comer to inflict the mortal blows on the Armagh defence, but it wasn’t to be their day. With Comer marked out of it by Aidan Forker and Walsh missing the frees, our fate was sealed.
In terms of free-taking, Robert Finnerty’s early injury and resultant substitution proved to be a huge blow, as in all probability, he would have converted at least a couple of the frees that Galway missed – but such are the thin lines between victory and defeat.
Perhaps, Armagh were also a measure better that some commentators had given them credit for. While their blanket defensive operation was always going to be difficult to break down, they seemed to counter-attack with more directness and pace than Galway.
Critically too, they possessed scoring power from behind their official forward line. Barry McCambridge, Aidan Forker, Tiarnan Kelly, Niall Grimley, Ben Crealey, and most significantly of all Aaron McKay with his vital goal, surfaced from the deep to deliver match winning scores.
Pictured: A vacant look on Sean Fitzgerald and Liam Silke's faces as they watch Armagh collect the Sam Maguire Cup. Photo: Seán Ó Mainnín