I was in Croke Park on Sunday for the All-Ireland final between Armagh and Galway and I have to say it was a disappointing game. It was poor value for the €100 ticket price for the final. And when you add in the fact that there was no minor game as a curtain raiser, it was a disappointing day overall.
Congratulations to Armagh. They were the better team and the more positive team on the day and deserved their win. But overall it was a poor game. And the way the game is being played at the moment, it is going nowhere.
The sides were level at half-time after having scored only six points each. But that’s the way the game is being played at the moment and that is happening right down to underage.
As it is, the game is going nowhere and the sooner the committee that is looking into the playing rules reports back the better. After last Sunday, we were speaking on the way home and if it had gone to a replay, I don’t know that I would have wanted to go back for more. The football was terrible.
When you think back that the minor final this year was between Derry and Armagh and that was played in Omagh. Why could it not have been the curtain raiser on Sunday in Croke Park? That would have helped a little to provide better value for money for the supporters.
Looking at Galway, I was reminded of Donegal back in 1966 when they reached their second Ulster final and played a number of players who had injuries against an over the top Down team at the time. I remember that game well because I got in as a sub in the final minutes but not in time to have any influence on the game. And we only lost out by a couple of points, 1-7 to 0-8. I would have learned a lot at that time that you cannot play injured players in championship.
In the heel of the hunt on Sunday the Galway front men Comer and Walsh could only manage one point from play between. Surely there were players on the bench that could have done better.
The loss of Rob Finnerty was a sizable loss for Galway. His father would have been a big player for Mayo back in the late 1980s.
Looking at the final from a Donegal viewpoint, it was an All-Ireland that was there for the taking, no more than Tyrone doing it a few years ago with a handy win over Mayo.
Jim McGuinness will have known it was an opportunity but it was a good year for Donegal and they have plenty to be thankful for – promotion from Division 2, a Division 2 title, an Ulster title and reaching an All-Ireland semi-final.
We have the same panel for next year and I’m sure there will be a few additions as well. We have the club championships to look forward to in the coming weeks and no doubt Jim will be keeping his eye out for additions to the panel.
Sunday’s win by Armagh means that there has been a clean sweep of titles by Ulster sides at intercounty, club, colleges and schools. It is a remarkable list and I think something similar happened back in 1968.
Derry and Donegal won the Division 1 and 2 League titles; Down won the Taillteann Cup; in the club championships Glen (Derry), Cullyhanna (Armagh) and Arva (Cavan) took the senior, intermediate and junior.
Derry took the minor championship; Tyrone the U-20 and now Armagh have taken the senior, while at colleges level UUJ won the Sigerson; Omagh CBS won the Hogan Cup and Abbey VS, Donegal Town won the Drummond Cup.
The only cup that didn’t come to Ulster was the Division 3 League with Down beaten in the final.
LADIES FINALS
This weekend it is the turn of the Ladies as they host their three All-Ireland finals at junior, Intermediate and senior.
Good luck to our neighbours Fermanagh and Leitrim who compete for the junior and intermediate titles respectively. Both have done really well, especially considering they are small counties
Congratulations to our own club Realt na Mara, Bundoran, on a great fund-raising effort on Saturday night last, the quid games, in the Great Northern. The fund-raising is to help with a big undertaking that is taking place with development at the park.
I remember when the first dressing rooms were built, it was after I came back from Canada and there was a special park committee at the time who ran the bingo as a fund-raiser. I remember at the time only other club, St Eunan’s, had dressing rooms.
Good luck also to three south-west teams Naomh Ultan, Ardara and Kilcar, who are celebrating milestones this weekend with the GAA President, Jarlath Burns, in the area on Saturday visiting all three clubs. I met Martin Shovlin in Croke Park last weekend. It will be a big weekend for all three clubs.
Finally, this week, heartiest congratulations to Mona McSharry from Grange on winning an Olympic medal on Monday night in the pool. Congratulations also to Grace Meade, who was her coach and mentor for so many years at Ballyshannon Swimming Pool.
It was great to see Daniel Wiffen also winning gold in the pool and the Olympics are a great watch. And we will have another local man, Chris O’Donnell, involved next week in athletics, a Grange native also but he went to school in Bundoran, so we are laying some claim to him.
Brian McEniff was in conversation with Peter Campbell