Who is ever going to forget Mayo Day 2016? Not one Mayo GAA fan that's for sure after the heroics of our U21 team in reaching the promised land and claiming the county's fifth All-Ireland title at this level. Was I confident before throw in? Not really, we knew Brian Reape was out and I heard on the grapevine that fullback Seamus Cuniffe was very doubtful because of a hamstring, and that our most influential player Diarmuid O'Connor might not be able to give his all because of a fractured finger sustained against Dublin in the semi-final. We couldn't possibly win with three key players missing or not at 100 per cent was my gut instinct. I was relieved to see Cuniffee and O'Connor taking their positions for the throw in. The buzz in Cusack Park was surreal, Mayo fans making up at least 7,000 of the almost 8,000 crowd.
It is not often you leave a game, a final that Mayo have played in, that you cannot remember the sequence of, or else mix up the goals scored by a team in green and red, this was very much the case last Saturday, after all they did score five, all beautiful and crucial in their own right. Mayo were under the cosh in the first half and were struggling badly kicking some horrible wides. Deja vu all over again we thought, I could only imagine the opinions from around the country, they are at it again, bottling it for a final. Cork were 0-07 to 0-04 to the good five minutes before the interval despite playing against a fairly stiff breeze, Matthew Ruane's lung busting run from deep and his fine score the highlight for Mayo from those first 25 minutes or so. I have no doubt Michael Solan's planned half time team talk was all about trying to get back in the game and to stop squandering chances created, while also trying to curb the threat of Cork's full forward giants Peter Kelleher and Brian Coakley, but not he or anyone could have envisaged what was to happen next. Shaorize Akram ran at the Cork defence but a high solo meant he was robbed by Ryan Harkin of Cork, Akram did very well to shoulder Harkin over the end line to retrieve possession, instead of picking the ball up Akram toe poked the ball to Liam Irwin who thought he would have a piece of that and slid the ball to Michael Plunkett. Plunkett's deft chip up back to Irwin opened the Cork defence, Irwin returned the pass to Plunkett who fired a perfect hand pass across the Cork goal for Diarmuid O'Connor to palm to the net. It was an unbelievable goal. The control and skill levels of Irwin and Plunket would not go amiss on Soccer Saturday’s show boating segment. The second goal arrived with 34 minutes gone on the clock, again Plunkett was instrumental in the build up after cutting through the Cork defence he laid the ball off to Conor Loftus who lost control, Fionan Duffy picked up the scraps and again took a bad touch before palming the ball to Plunket who hand passed to Liam Irwin, the bear on the square did a 360 degree turn before rifling his shot past a helpless Cork defence. Duffy's bravery cannot be overemphasised in the build up, he took a right clatter for his troubles. Instead of going in three points down, Mayo found themselves four to the good, it was complete shock and awe, Cork were rattled and the Mayo team raced off the field to rapturous applause.
Leaving it all on the field
You felt there could not be much more drama in the second half but this year's U21 batch do not do things as per the norm. Cork clawed their way back into the game thanks to Kelleher and Coakley. Mayo were only two points to the good when Matthew Ruane fetched superbly from a kick out, he found team captain Stephen Coen who ran through the heart of the Cork defence, he passed to Michael Plunkett, it looked like the chance had gone, Plunkett slipped the ball to Conor Loftus who side footed to the Cork net and Mayo were five up again. Cork to their credit responded in kind and from a duffed 45, Peter Kelleher, Cork's best player, fisted past Mattie Flanagan, the Rebels were back in it again. With the game all square on 58 minutes, Cork goalie, Anthony Casey had the proverbial four minute nightmare, he is a fine keeper and will recover from this blip. His attempted short kick out was intercepted by Conor Loftus, the average Joe Soap would have kicked it over the bar, not Loftus, he drove at the Cork goal before unleashing a venomous left footed thunderbolt into the roof of the net, it was high quality finishing. Casey in the Cork goal was obviously still spinning from his mistake moments earlier and got a rush of blood when he raced from his line to intercept a long ball into Liam Irwin, the Cork custodian got all his angles wrong and made Irwin's decision easy to fist the ball to the net from almost 20 metres, great improvisation from the Bear in the Square. It was an amazing game, an amazing victory, and I could not be more proud of Michael Solan and his team.
Mayo had heroes aplenty, too many to mention, Stephen Coen has gone into the history books, two All-Ireland trophies raised over his head at the tender age of 20. The question now is will he get his hands on Sam McGuire, he is a lucky captain for Mayo that is for sure and Stephen Rochford has yet to pick his leader for 2016, just a thought Roch. The Rossies got the fright of their lives in the Big Apple, more on that next week.
