The All-Ireland football final was a very disappointing affair after the excitement of its hurling counterpart a fortnight earlier. However, fair play to Galway, who took the game by the scruff of the neck from the off, and didn’t allow their heads go down following their series of awful first half misses. Of course, Meath have already this season found themselves being outplayed for most of a game, and still grinding out victory by the final whistle. However, one could not have envisaged them losing Ollie Murphy through injury, having a man sent off, and missing a penalty all in the space of a few minutes. Not even a dose of Seán Boylan’s strongest herbs was capable of rescuing his charges from that series of body blows.

An Moltóir recalls another Meath team that of 1991 which almost made it a badge of honour to allow their opponents to build up a comfortable lead and then reel them in with the inevitability of night following day. However, on All-Ireland final day, they found themselves just one bridge too far from the Holy Grail, and Down held out for a famous victory which ushered in Ulster’s glorious half-decade.

Much has been made in the aftermath of last Sunday’s Meath implosion of the significance of their destruction of Kerry in the semi-final. Rumours are still flying around about bust-ups in the Kingdom dressing room before the game. However, one simply cannot accept that a county with Kerry’s tradition, defending the All-Ireland title, would simply throw in the towel without firing a shot (excuse the mixed metaphors, your honour). It is much more likely that Meath peaked for that occasion, in the same way the Galway hurlers hit a high point in also dethroning the reigning champions and then found themselves like Meath unable to do it again when it really mattered. Galway’s footballers, by contrast, managed to get to the final by playing in patches in all their matches, and thus were in a position to give their all when they came to the final hurdle. One suspects that the introduction of the losers’ group will cause all aspiring county managers to review their team preparation strategies in future years.

The Dublin minor footballers found themselves in a similar situation to the Meath seniors in their game against Tyrone. The Metropolitans were positively awesome in the way they dismissed a fine Kerry side in their semi-final, while Tyrone were not the most impressive when coming through theirs. However, on the day the Dubs just never got going, and Tyrone playing some excellent football seemed capable of pulling away whenever their opponents began to come close. Dublin’s biggest problem especially in the second half - was their inability to get sufficient good possession in the middle third of the park in order to create a decent supply line to their two excellent corner forwards, David O’Callaghan and John Noonan. It was perhaps fitting that it was the former who scrambled the last-gasp goal which saved the Dubs’ skin. They will probably win the replay in a canter.

In the various idle moments which are a recurring feature of All-Ireland day, An Moltóir found himself looking around the emerging new Croke Park and musing about what it will eventually look like. It is difficult to fathom why the Nally Stand has been allowed to survive all these years. While undoubtedly there are many who hold it in fond regard, ultimately it is a terrible waste of space. It looks like one good belt of a lump hammer would bring the whole thing down, and a low-cost extension of the Hill 16 terrace would surely have created a couple of thousand extra places for the insatiable hordes who emerge from the undergrowth every September.
What concerns An Moltóir even more is the apparent lack of space needed to extend the length of the Croke Park pitch to give it the full dimensions for hurling games. At the moment, it is at least ten metres shorter than Semple Stadium. No allowance for extending it was made when the Canel End stand was built, so they will have to eat in to the Hill if they are to get the ground they need at the other end. As far as An Moltóir is concerned, it would be unpardonable if, when finally finished, the Croke Park pitch is unable to do full justice to the greatest field game in the world. However, one could hardly expect anything else from the Gaelic Football Athletic Association.

Finally, An Moltóir noted with some amusement the continued failure of the high-spirited Hill 16 crowd to get a Mexican wave going last Sunday. Repeated noisy and well-choreographed attempts to get the ball rolling met with a less than half-hearted response from the stuck-in-the-muds in the Cusack Stand, and the resultant mere ripples ran aground before halfway was reached. An Moltóir mentions this because the hurling final produced perhaps the best and most sustained Mexican wave ever seen anywhere. This merely confirmed to An Moltóir what he always suspected that a different class of people attends hurling matches, less partisan, less uptight and more fun-loving, as well as being more discerning, knowledgeable and fraternal than their footballing counterparts.