THE TWO BIGGEST CALLS ON THE DAY WENT DUBS’ WAY
WE are running out of superlatives to describe this Dublin team. Six All-Ireland titles in a row, six of their players now joining my uncle Páidí in the record books with their eight Celtic Crosses. The magnificent five that we were so proud of down in Kerry has now become the magnificent 11 – and there are probably more medals in the future for them.
You cannot take anything away from Dublin. They are a phenomenal team, the greatest to ever play the game. In Stephen Cluxton, James McCarthy and Brian Fenton, they have three of the greatest leaders to ever play the game.
For Mayo to have stood any chance, they needed every break going. They needed the rub of the green – and they needed the referee to be strong. They didn’t get that.
David Coldrick had three minutes to forget at one of the most crucial stages of that match last night. Firstly, he neglected to give Jonny Cooper a black card when he committed the very foul for which the black card was brought in. And a couple of minutes later, he took no action when Mick Fitzsimons took Lee Keegan out with a shoulder into the chest.
‘MAYO NEEDED EVERY BREAK GOING AND THE RUB OF THE GREEN’
It is the biggest game of the year and you need your officials to be strong. And they simply weren’t strong enough last night.
Players self-evaluate their performances after a match – and officials do too. I think when this game is reviewed, they will know it was not good enough.
Cooper should have been sent to the sin-bin when Aidan O’Shea looked like he was bearing down on goal. In a situation like that in soccer, when you are blatantly pulled down while bearing down on goal, it is a red card. In our game, it should be a black card, plain and simple. It is why it was brought in, to eradicate incidents like Seán Cavanagh pulling down Conor McManus a few years ago,
O’Shea wins the ball, takes on his man, is bearing down on goal. And he is taken out of it. And just a tick for Cooper. A couple of minutes later, Fitzsimons catches Keegan with a reckless challenge.
When players are going for a shoulder, it has to be a side-to-side challenge. I got sent off once against Cork because I mistimed my shoulder charge in much the same way that Fitzsimons did yesterday, and I ended up before the CCCC in Croke Park.
But Fitzsimons got away with it. Now, in that instance, probably Coldrick should have received some assistance from his officials. But did the referee talk to his linesman or his umpire?
It might seem as if I am nit-picking, taking out two decisions over 77 minutes of football. But the simple fact of the matter is that those were two huge calls that directly influenced this All-Ireland final. And both of them were wrong.
And that is simply not good enough. Not when players are putting so much into the game. They deserve better.
Mayo did so much right in that game, especially in the first half. But the fact remains that the team who are going to eventually beat this Dublin side are going to need the rub of the green. They are going to need a couple of big calls to go for them. And Mayo didn’t get that last night.
I am not being bitter. There is so much to admire in this Dublin team and the job that Dessie Farrell has done. Some people might think it would be easy taking the reins from Jim Gavin; in reality it was anything but.
However, Dessie has done a remarkable job, because he has changed very little. It is much of the same as far as this team is concerned.
He maintained the competitive edge within the panel. Brian Howard and Paul Mannion, who would walk into any other county team, had been left on the bench. They both came on last night with a point to prove – and were instrumental in Dublin claiming their sixth All-Ireland title in a row.
And it seems like this Dublin team are determined to smash any last record that we have left in Kerry. Not content with six of their side equalling Páidí and the magnificent five with their eight Celtic Crosses, the Dubs now have the record of fastest goal in an All-Ireland final, eclipsing another Kerry record that had stood since 1962.
Dean Rock’s finish was so clever, but the goal was all about James McCarthy. To me, he is the key to this Dublin team, the man who makes everything tick.
He’s just a phenomenal talent, driving the team forward. But they have exceptional players all over the field. Con O’Callaghan is every defender’ s nightmare. His movement and his power make him almost impossible to mark.
And Dublin play on the edge. There’s nothing wrong with that. I played on a Kerry team that lived on the edge, with the likes of Paul Galvin, my brother Darragh, Tom O’Sullivan and Aidan O’Mahony.
All great teams do.
But when you do that, sometimes you expect to be punished. Dublin got away with a couple of incidents that went over the line in the second half yesterday and that had a big influence on this result.
The result might well have been the same even if Cooper was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes, as he should have been. But the point is that we will never know.
James Horan has a lot to be proud of from his team’s performance yesterday.
The likes of Oisin Mullin and Ryan O’Donoghue looked like they were playing in their fifth All-Ireland final, not their first.
The future is bright for Mayo football, even if this was yet more heartbreak.
They will be back again, because that is all they know. They are defiant. And resolute. When they look back on the video, they will see that they did so much right, especially in the first half. But once again, it just wasn’t enough.
The Mayo players shouldn’t be too harsh on themselves. But I believe one man who will have to accept some criticism is David Coldrick. In a game of such fine margins, you just cannot get two such big calls wrong.
‘DUBLIN GOT AWAY WITH INCIDENTS THAT WENT OVER THE LINE’