THE LAST POINT: Carpe diem the only imperative

Not much of a Latin scholar myself, the words ‘Carpe Diem’ nevertheless leapt into my mind over the weekend as I watched the first weekend of the Olympic Games and an All-Ireland Senior Football Final that turned out to be exactly what I feared - a wonderful occasion, a never to be forgotten triumph for Armagh and a truly miserable spectator experience.

Carpe Diem, or Seize the Day to the majority of us, was something that Galway  singularly failed to do on Sunday in Croke Park as the prize of Sam Maguire was there, within touching distance over the final 15 minutes, but they couldn’t just stretch out and grab it to bring across the Shannon.

The hurt is something that won’t fade from the mind of Padraig Joyce and his players for quite some time - a slavish devotion to their structured gameplan meant they had no answer to Armagh’s massed defence and it was the Orchard who plucked the Apple that is Sam Maguire.

Of course, sport being what it is and GAA all about local rivalry, some Mayo fans couldn’t resist piling onto their neighbours misery, no doubt sick of the flak they took over the past  years but if there is one fanbase who you’d think would have some measure of sympathy for the Tribesmen, it should be Mayo.

But all politics is local - some Green & Red fans were irate their County Board went to the trouble of posting a good luck message on their social media channels while the Unionist community lost their collective minds over good luck messages to Armagh and the sight of PSNI vehicles participating in post-match celebrations seemed, excuse the pun, to drive them completely over the edge!

THE LAST POINT: THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM

Seizing the day sounds easy - I’m sure the Galway footballers meant to do just that but it just didn’t come off. Armagh weren’t that much better in a game that would almost bore you to tears but they were just good enough  - Sam resides in Armagh and more power to them. You certainly couldn’t begrudge Kieran McGeeney and his players after all their oft-recounted heartbreaks.

I sat in Croke Park watching the Division 2 Final earlier this year wondering what had happened to an Armagh team that had ripped the Dubs asunder in the league two years previously. Gone was the sumptuous attacking verve as an understrength Donegal gave them a roasting until a late Armagh rally nearly saw them take the title. 

Under their former captain, Armagh have been the team that haven’t seized the day - penalty shootouts came and went three times with the Orchard tasting defeat and in each and every one of those contests. All three games were there in the palm of their hands but Armagh couldn’t seize the day. Maybe, in some cruel, twisted way, those heartbreaks laid the groundwork for Armagh getting over the line after a tortuous final last Sunday.

Tortuous was a word many spectators used in Philly McGuinness Park on Saturday after St Mary’s Kiltoghert executed what is now termed a tactical masterclass to comfortably see off Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins in the Masonite Division 1 Final - the 0-10 to 0-3 scoreline mightn’t seem it but in the context of how the game was played, this was a hammering.

Stung by O’Heslins in the League when they were turned over for three goals, St Mary’s - much like Armagh in Croke Park - were determined not to concede goals so they kept hold of possession and kept hold of it and kept hold of it, dragging Ballinamore back and forth across the field before striking  decisively.

THE LAST POINT: HURLING'S CURIOUS CONUMDRUM

That’s a convoluted way to seize the day but nevertheless, St Mary’s formulated a game plan and seized their chance at just the right time. The tactical battle and how it is executed is fascinating, it doesn't get the pulse racing but in modern day football, that's how you win titles and St Mary's and Armagh did it brilliantly. So until the risk-reward ratio is changed, that’s how it will be!

Dean Clancy tried to seize the day in Paris - the young Sean McDermott Club fighter gave it everything he had, he certainly didn’t let the occasion pass him by but experience, that often unquantifiable quality, told in the end as Jordan’s Obada Alkasbeh prevailed on a split 3-2 decision that, in one of those quirks of sport, left you mystified.

The Sligo youngster - and remember he is still a youngster - out-scored Alkasbeh when the points total were added up, won two rounds to his opponents' one yet ended up losing when the two judges who had the fight as a draw opted for his opponent. The defeat will sting Clancy but he can take pride from the performance he put in as he starts out what is hopefully a long Olympic career.

He needs look no further for inspiration than  his fellow Sligo athlete Mona McSharry who won Ireland's first medal of the games with a superb bronze on Monday. Just one hundredth of a second separated McSharry from utter devastation but the Grange swimmer demonstrated the extreme fine line in top level sport.

Diving into the pool, her goggles filled with water, enough to put off the most hardened competitor but instead of letting it overwhelm her, McSharry simply put her head down and swam her way to Olympic glory, a glory that her neighbours and schoolmates from Tullaghan and Kinlough will revel in every bit as much as the most diehard Sligo person.

The Games may only be on a few days but already, we're not short of tales of athletes seizing, or not, the day - the Aussie divers who made a mistake that gifted Great Britain a medal or the tiny fractions that denied Ireland's Liam Jegou a medal in the Canoe Slalom. Ireland's Men Sevens Rugby tried to seize the day but Fiji were just that bit better at it than we were.

Carpe Diem is the message Jonny Garrity will preach to his Leitrim players ahead of Sunday's TG4  All-Ireland Intermediate Final in Croke Park and when it comes to seizing the opportunity, this Leitrim team have demonstrated an uncanny and almost unrivalled ability to do just that. They've had scary moments but when the game was there to be won, Leitrim have found a way to do just that.

THE LAST POINT: FIXING GAELIC FOOTBALL NO EASY TASK

I'm no clairvoyant by any means but after they beat Tyrone earlier this year, I concluded my column thus: “It's early days yet and I'm not one for losing the run of myself  but such was the power of their performances, I'd start checking out the odds on Leitrim lifting the Mary Quinn Cup later this year!”

Nothing has changed in the days and weeks since I penned those words - if anything, that feeling has hardened even if I get the nagging feeling now and again that a formidable Tyrone might come out and do a 'Laois' on the Ladies team in Croke Park, turning the result of the previous  meeting upside down on the biggest stage of all.

Seizing the day might simply come down to remembering that next Sunday is simply a football match, albeit on a grander scale, and  doing the things that got you to Croke Park is what will get you across the line. Tyrone will do everything in their power to stop them but maybe Leitrim's name is on the Cup - who knows? 

All we can say is good luck to a Leitrim team who are wonderful ambassadors for their sport and their county, we're all behind you!