PUTTING THE SUPER INTO SUPER SUBS
Crokes have one of football’s greatest stars held in reserve
MILTOWN Malbay will have enough to contend with from the throwin to tomorrow’s Munster Club SFC final without casting an eye towards the opposition dugout.
In reaching their seventh provincial decider this decade, Dr Crokes raised few eyebrows, but doing so with their most celebrated talent on the bench has surprised many observers
And Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper has not become a substitute by choice, Crokes’ sources insist, but by the will of the management.
He has much to prove even though he did just that when he came off the bench to kick three points against St Finbarr’s in the Munster semi-final.
An eight–time All-Star on a mission is a prospect likely to fill the Clare champions with dread even before he enters the fray. That makes him the quite the impact substitute, but to become the ultimate one, he has some way to go.
In honour of club football’s most decorated sub, Sportsmail counts down the GAA’s top 10 super subs of all time.
10 BILLY BYRNE 1997 Leinster SHC final Wexford 2-14 Kilkenny 1-11
Byrne played for just 10 minutes and ended up as the official RTÉ Sunday Game Man of the Match. He earned it too, kicking 1-2. 9 CORMAC COSTELLO 2016 All-Ireland SFC final replay Dublin 1-15 Mayo 1-14
It was no coincidence that Dublin’s surge for the winning line to win a third All-Ireland in a row coincided with Costello’s arrival on the pitch in the 56th minute.
He kicked two points to ease Dublin into a three-point lead and added another one late on.
8 ÉAMONN TAAFFE 1995 All-Ireland SHC final Clare 1-13 Offaly 2-8
In seven years Taaffe made just eight Championship appearances and started just one match in the aftermath of the 1995 All-Ireland final.
Indeed, he was such an unknown figure that he wasn’t listed among the subs in the match programme, but no one will forget his name after he came on and drilled Clare’s only goal as the Banner claimed their first All-Ireland in 81 years. 7 PAT O’CONNOR 1994 All-Ireland SHC final Offaly 3-16 Limerick 2-13 With five minutes to go, Limerick
led by as many points, but then their world caved in.
And O’Connor, who replaced Joe Dooley in the final quarter, did a lot of the damage as he followed up within a minute of Johnny Dooley’s netted free by pulling on a through ball to give Offaly a lead they would not lose. 6 PETER CANAVAN 2003 All-Ireland SFC final Tyrone 0-12 Armagh 0-9
This was one of the more nuanced impact substitutions, but no less significant for that.
Tyrone’s greatest player looked destined to miss out on the final as a result of an ankle injury sustained in the semi-final win over Kerry, but he started the final and lasted until half-time.
That was assumed to be that but as Armagh pressed and Tyrone felt the heat, he was introduced — something not seen before — with six minutes remaining.
He guided the ship home, like the great captain he was. 5 SHANE DOWLING 2018 All-Ireland SHC semi-final Limerick 3-32 Cork 2-31 It was hard to envisage those
scenes of unbridled joy which enveloped Limerick in late summer when they trailed Cork by six points with seven minutes remaining in the semi-final.
But then they came storming back, ignited by the introduction of Dowling who nailed 1-4 by the time the final whistle had blown at the end of extra-time.
And then, for good measure, he scored a goal in the final which would provide a crucial buffer. 4 NOEL LANE 1988 All-Ireland SHC final, Galway 1-15 Kilkenny 0-14
Sprung from the bench in the second half of the 1987 final, he would produce the decisive strike 10 minutes from the end of a dour, uninspiring final as Galway defeated Tipperary on a 1-12 to 0-9 score-line.
To score an All-Ireland-winning goal from the bench is career defining but to do it twice inside 12 months is something else.
His form dictated he should have started the following year’s final, and he reminded them why by, again, scoring the only goal of the game after being brought on.
Hurling’s ultimate super sub.
3 MAURICE FITZGERALD 2000 All-Ireland SFC semifinal, Kerry 2-11 Armagh 2-11
His most famous score from the bench would come 12 months later with that sideline conversion against Dublin, but his most significant impact came in this game.
He scored arguably the finest goal of his career to put Kerry four points up in the final quarter, but Armagh came fighting back to lead by one point, Kerry drew a free 40 metres out to save the game.
Who would want that kind of pressure? Who do you think? 2 KEVIN McMANAMON 2011 All-Ireland SFC final Dublin 1-12 Kerry 1-11
For consistently delivering big in small windows of time, there has never been anyone quite like him.
So many to choose from, including that drilled finished which slammed the door shut on Kerry in an epic 2013 All-Ireland semi-final, but it was his goal two years earlier that put Dublin on the road to greatness.
The goal, seven minutes from the end, reduced a four-point deficit to
one, and without it there would be no Dublin comeback and no Stephen Cluxton winner.
He put Dublin on such a roll that they are only a couple more of his substitute appearances away from history. 1 SÉAMUS DARBY 1982 All-Ireland SFC Offaly 1-15 Kerry 0-17
He was the man who put super into super substitute, scoring undoubtedly the most famous goal of all time with his one and only kick of the ball in the 1982 final.
He came on with a couple of minutes to go as Offaly trailed and Kerry looked certain to make history by becoming the first to win five-in-a-row.
Liam Connor launched, in the words of Michael O’Hehir, ‘a high, lobbing, dropping ball’ which deceived Tommy Doyle and Darby made the most of it with a delicious looping finish.
You could argue that it is a tad cruel that a man who won three All-Ireland medals had his career defined by one kick of a ball – and the fame it attracted would derail his life for a period – but there are worse ways to be remembered.