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KEVIN MCSTAY Winning the big match when it is against the head, these are days you never forget.
DAVID SLAYS GOLIATH A delighted Eamon O’Hara holds the Nestor Cup aloft in the dressing room after Sligo’s victory over Galway. Pic: Sportsfile
My highlight was Sligo’s success
Kevin McStay IT’S hard to land on a highlight these days in the GAA. Lowlights? For sure, there always seems to be plenty of those around: on- and off-field indiscipline, GUBU efforts from the committee rooms around the country, players losing the run of themselves and thinking they are the real association, and us guys in the media dropping the ball on a regular enough basis too. In a year when Kerry win the football and Kilkenny the hurling you have to think it’s just a case of more of the same. To quote Kavanagh: ‘through a chink too wide, there comes in no wonder’ (or something like that…). And then your archive comes up with a moment, well, 70-plus moments actually. And as I reflect on the sporting year I realise I have been a spectator and co-commentator in interesting times! Breakthrough teams are so important to the dynamic of the GAA that there really should be a regulation insisting the old silverware goes around the houses. Think of Clare winning Munster in 1992. Two years later Leitrim take Connacht. And Cavan rise from the ashes to secure an Ulster title and regain their footballing pride, no matter how fleeting. And the new millennium has held its own in this respect: Westmeath won a glorious Leinster in 2004 and we thought that might be the end of the ‘new’ teams getting to the top table. And when Sligo finally added to their list of provincial titles in the summer of 2007, we all appeared surprised, shocked even. But they had flagged their intentions over the previous half-decade or so, and if the win over Galway caught us on the hop, it really was a day that was coming for a long time. I was lucky enough to be at the Clare and Leitrim wins as a spectator and had the best seat in the house when working as the RTÉ co-commentator for the Westmeath and Sligo victories. Hyde Park on Sunday, July 14 was more or less the same as many Connacht Final days before it. A little sunshine spoiled by a strong breeze brought back some memories; these are the standard conditions for these Roscommon showpieces. The host county opened up with a minor final appearance as All-Ireland champions, only to fall to a team that would succeed them at national level. And if the build-up to the senior match had a whiff of sulphur about it, the breeze had dissipated the smell by parade time. Sligo followers had, it appeared, like many times previously travelled hoping for the best but expecting the worst. And these scenarios and the possibility of turning them around, of upsetting the odds, provide the greatest days in any footballer’s life. Winning the big match when it is against the head, the victory of a David over a Goliath, these are days you just never forget. And what a win it was. Great passion, great excitement and a historical context. Sligo don’t win this gong too often and are perhaps the only argument left for the old system of provincial football structures. And it’s grand to witness old soldiers get their day in the sun. Noel McGuire was immense and no more deserving player has ever lifted the Nestor Cup. He togged for all the bad days and kept coming back hoping one day to land a big fish. Eamon O’Hara adorned the game with possibly the goal of the season — is there such a competition anymore? His power, pace and raw athleticism got him into the position to drill home the decisive goal. He made one mistake, however – he scored it much too early in the game! And so the whole of Sligo had to sweat out more than half of the match, as first it looked the wind would win it for Galway and then O’Hara himself had to leave the game injured. I wrote a paragraph at the time about a sight witnessed by a buddy who had driven past some hours and mucho porter after the title had been won: “Roscommon was slow to empty and dusk had fallen when a friend spotted a few good-humoured Sligonians down to their jocks as they replayed the O’Hara goal in a lay-by on the edge of town.” And I imagine that wherever Sligo men gather in twos or threes, this scene is being replayed. But perhaps not in their jocks. And as one year comes to a close, we can but hope and dream 2008 will be ‘our’ year. And here in Connacht, it really is time for Mayo, Galway or Roscommon to make a move. A provincial title would very much agree with Ros while the ‘Big Two’ will be in search of even greater prizes. Can any of them fulfill what might read like fanciful ambitions at this stage? Well, this piece has just reflected on an amazing and historic win by Sligo. It took them 22 years to get there but if we had mentioned such a win this time 12 months ago, would it have seemed any more fanciful than my hopes for next year? Indeed not, so we really should set our sights on a decent return from the province in 2008. Here’s hoping …
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Kevin McStay
