I arrived early at GAA HQ last Sunday as I like to soak up the pre match atmosphere of All-Ireland final day. Normally there is a great buzz in and around Croke Park from about 10am and last Sunday was no different. I was privileged to have been asked to do co-commentary for the minor game and match analysis on the big one, so I had to be in the grounds by 12.45. As it happened, I also received an invitation from the GPA to attend a pre-match reception in Jurys Croke Park at 12 noon. It was a gig for former inter-county footballers and was an excellent idea as the opportunities to meet and chat with former players from other counties are few and far between. In fact during our playing years we would barely look at each other never mind hang about for a chat after matches. So unless you participate in some of the GAA golf classics, you rarely get a chance to say hello. And I don’t play golf! My friend Pat Holmes had arrived at the reception before I got there and, unfortunately for me, had devoured most of the sandwiches. Notwithstanding that minor complaint, the 30 minutes I spent at the pre match event was pleasant. I chatted with Greg Blaney, the former Down centre-forward, and John Lynch, corner back with Tyrone in the eighties. I asked both for their pre match predictions. Neither of them could see anything other than a Kerry victory. And that was the general consensus in and around Croke Park prior to the match, with the exception of the Dublin folk of course.
Later, when I was making my way over to Croke Park itself, I was stopped by a woman dressed in Tipperary colours. She appeared both nervous and excited as she chatted about her son who was picked to play at centre-forward on the Tipp minor team. She told me her ‘boy’ would not be starting as he had injured his hand in training the previous week. I was not brave enough to tell her that I thought the Dubs would win, but I did say I was rooting for Tipp.
Everyone had an opinion
I had a few minutes to spare before the minor match started and so headed to the media room for a coffee. This is where most of the journalists and pundits convene for a chat and a snack on match days. Understandably everyone has a view on how the games might unfold. Brian Talty was there working for some radio station and, because of his involvement with Dublin underage football, was able to give me an insight into most of the Dublin minors. Brian Carty was doing the live commentary on the minor match as I took up a position right next to him. Tipp played second fiddle to the Dubs in the first half, and at one stage during that half I genuinely thought that Dublin would stroll away with an emphatic victory. The Dubs had, in Ciaran Kilkenny, a young, magical, centre-forward who controlled the entire first half with as complete a display of football as I have witnessed at this level. Despite the fact that the Dubs were by far the better side in the first half, Brian Carty kept repeating the fact that this Tipp side had displayed enormous resilience throughout the championship and suggested that we should not write them off. He recalled that they were behind by 11 points in the Munster Championship against no less a team than Kerry and managed to come back and win on that occasion.
The young Tipperary manager made two changes at half time that had an enormous influence on the outcome. The young ‘injured’ centre forward, Philip Quirke, - remember, I met his anxious mother earlier - came off the bench at half time and was pivotal in turning the tide in Tipperary’s favour. He kicked three monstrous second half points from distance and everything he did was constructive and positive. Suddenly the young Dubs looked rattled, particularly when the Dublin goalkeeper contributed to their collective loss of composure by dangerously throwing a pass out to a corner back who then spilled the ball. The other Tipp sub, Kennedy, seized the opportunity and blasted a shot, from 20 metres out, right to the back of the Dublin net that will ensure cult status for him for years to come. Big Tom Byrne, a Mayo sub in the minor final of 1978, was floating on air for decades after doing something similar. Incredibly Tipp were in front and for the first time I could see panic and consternation reach the Dublin sideline. There was little manager Dessie Farrell could do as his charges did not have the experience or, by that stage, the legs to mount a late comeback. The Tipp lads’ display was emblazoned with confident energy now and what appeared at one stage to be a minor title for the boys in blue had slipped through their grasp. They say timing is everything in sport. Tipp got that aspect of their game spot on!
The big one
I shifted seats and took up position beside my friend Tommy Carr for the big match. Wee Mairtin McHugh was tasked with the co-commentary for the senior game and both Tommy and I were there to give our views on the potential outcome. Both of us predicted a Kerry win, but stated we would be shouting for the Dubs.
The game started at a frenetic pace. We suggested it was essential that the Dubs hang tightly in there for the opening quarter and not allow Kerry to set the tempo for the game. Dublin soaked up everything that Kerry threw at them in this quarter. The Dubs had the appearance of a team that was prepared to go to the well to draw deeper than they had ever done before. We chatted in commentary about the way the team had been steeled psychologically and physically over the winter months with all those early morning sessions we had heard about. They were certainly playing very constructive and committed football and looked like a side that was not going to be pushed around too easily. Their defensive style, with the deployment of two wing forwards (backs ) sitting behind midfield, meant there was going to be little room for the more flamboyant Kerry attack to flourish. Kerry decided to introduce an element of surprise into the opening proceedings by shuffling their attack. Starting centre-forward Declan O’Sullivan at full-forward was nothing new, but the placing of ‘Star’ Donaghy as an orthodox wing forward after he had won the throw in had caught most by surprise. He did win lots of primary possession but his absence from the edge of the square was hugely noticeable. Darren O’Sullivan, now playing at centre-forward, displayed that electric pace of his by running straight through the heart of the Dublin defence to set up the ‘Gooch’ for a classy goal. All appeared to be rosy in the garden when Jack O’Connor decided it was time to play his trump card after 24 minutes with the introduction of Paul Galvin. Why so early? Galvin immediately sat back around the centre back position and was guilty of conceding three frees to Dublin that were all converted. Kerry decided then to revert to type and redeploy troops into their best positions. Galvin moved to wing-forward, Donaghy to full and Declan O’Sullivan to centre-forward. Now they began to blossom again and looked home and hosed until a late but dramatic flourish by Dublin. Fair play to the Dubs. They never gave up and you have to credit them for all the harrying and chasing they did of Kerry, forcing them into making the mistakes which ultimately saw Kerry throw this All- Ireland away. We mentioned during our commentary that the Kerry defence had not looked bomb proof this year and both Alan Brogan and Kevin McManamon highlighted that weakness when they knifed through weary Kerry limbs to score the goal that dragged Dublin right back into the match. Cluxton of course will be talked about for years to come as he displayed nerves of steel to convert that famous final point. He has brought a dimension to the art of goalkeeping that has made the position cool again.
