A year of surprises in the football championship

A year of surprises in the football championship


Michael D McAndrew

This year’s football championship has produced one of the most out of the ordinary seasons in decades, with all the big guns crashing out before the business end in September.
Who in their right mind would have predicted that Kingdom and Tyrone would be out of the championship by the month of August? Even our own faithful Mayo failed to deliver this year, resulting in the resignation of manager John O’Mahony with a replacement yet to be installed. A disappointing exit to Sligo in the Connacht Championship was followed by one of the biggest shocks involving the county for years, losing to Leinster minnows Longford. A lot of people fancied the green and red army to have a good run in the championship this time out given their fantastic run in the National League. But Mayo and many other counties proved that the league is nothing less than an experimental run-around when Division Four sides can so easily overcome a crop of players from the top tier.
Galway were fancied to reach great heights this season under vastly experienced messiah Joe Kernan. The Armagh native couldn’t get the Tribesmen past Sligo – or indeed Wexford, for that matter – and has now handed in his letter of resignation. Then we reach the Connacht final where all the experts couldn’t  see anything other than Sligo overcoming Roscommon. But yet again we were proved wrong as young Donal Shine was on song with his magical free-taking.
Dublin were hotly tipped to  retain their Leinster crown, but Meath tore them apart. Then came the championship’s major talking point came when Louth faced Meath in the final. The Wee County were extremely hard done by as they had a goal awarded against them when a free out was clearly warranted.
However, Munster and Ulster went according to plan with Kerry and Tyrone winning their respective crowns. The back door produced even more surprises as the so-called weaker teams found their feet against the more established sides.
The quarter-finals took centre stage last weekend, with all the ties throwing up major surprises. Many people saw Kerry-Down as a foregone conclusion – a win for the Kingdom, surely? However, Down were highly underestimated even though they had thrashed Sligo. Next up was another surprise, as Dublin produced an outstanding performance to overcome the bookies’ choice Tyrone.
The one game the experts got right was Cork coming up trumps against an inexperienced Rosscommon outfit. The last quarter-final on Sunday afternoon saw Kildare and Meath lock horns. This game was an extremely difficult one to call, as Meath play hard football with a physical crop of men in their midst, whereas Kildare play attractive, clean football which doesn’t always wash against the big guns. The latter were the most impressive as they had a superb eight-point victory over the Royal County.
Now we are at the semi-final stages, will there be more upsets? Who will come up trumps between bitter rivals Dublin and Cork? Will Kildare and Down produce a magical exhibition? All we can do is sit back and wait to be amused by the this beautiful game that keeps throwing up shock after shock. Gaelic football has now turned a new leaf. Perhaps the era of Kerry dominance has come to an end, and it won’t be as predictable as in recent years.

Michael D McAndrew from Glenamoy is on work experience with The Mayo News