Inside Track: McDonnell named on the team of the championship
Inside Track with Joe Carroll
Mayo may have broken a couple of All-Ireland records. Has a team ever had so many supporting them in a final?
Maybe Down in the early 1960s. There was a crowd of 90,556 for the game with Offaly, almost 3,000 more than the previous year’s attendance when the Mournemen beat Kerry to bring the Sam Maguire Cup across the Border for the first time.
Then there were the four finals in which Armagh were involved. The Orchard’s first All-Ireland day outing, in 1953, had an official attendance of 86,155, but reports suggest there could have been upwards on 100,000 there after a gate behind Hill 16 gave way.
It’s said that Mayo supporters outnumbered the Kerry contingent by three to one last Sunday week and it seemed every single one of them remained for the presentation. And they were there again the following evening for the team’s homecoming, joined by those who’d been unable to travel to Dublin for the game.
That’s the second record Mayo may have broken. Castlebar’s McHale Park had never seen anything like it, the stands and terraces full to capacity with thousands more on the field. It was a homecoming that befitted the occasion.
And the immediate aftermath of the game itself? It, too, was exceptional, the cheering, the dancing and, yes, the tears. Many Kerry people took part, but you’d have to think that if they welled up it was because of the result. They don’t like losing finals down in the Kingdom.
This, incidentally, was the 25th time Kerry have missed out in a final, but, of course, they are well ahead in the race that counts, boasting of 39 wins.
There’s nothing to beat an All-Ireland celebration, especially if the podium is foreign territory to the winners. An FA Cup final, or, needless to say, after its recent renewal, a World Cup presentation are nothing to compare.
While former Armagh All-Ireland footballer and present-day Wicklow manager, Oisín McConville, in a podcast, named Louth as the team of the championship, there was no mention of Gavin Devlin’s students in a contributor’s resumé of the competition on the Sunday Game.
Maybe we’ve become paranoid. We shouted from the rooftops when, on the evening of the win over Armagh, the SG gave more prominence to the hooter and the clock than it did the Louth performance. The criticism was justified.
The Louth colours, however, came up on the night of the All-Ireland final. They were worn by Dara McDonnell, the Naomh Máirtín player named at centre-half on the panel’s team of the championship. Sam Mulroy and the luckless Craig Lennon also came in for mention, but no recognition for Ciarán Downey.
McDonnell must now stand a great chance of winning an All-Star. And if it were to happen, what an honour would it be for the Máirtín club, a second All-Star to follow the one Sam Mulroy captured last year.