THE LAST POINT: Weekend of finals ends with Mayo redemption​

Finals might just be like buses – you wait most of the year for one and then, all of a sudden, they’re on you in a mad rush with three domestic club men’s finals here in Leitrim getting somewhat overshadowed by events in Croke Park when Mayo ended a 75 year wait to bring Sam Maguire back to the county and boy did they do it in style!

​It wouldn’t be Mayo if they didn’t do it the hard way – comfortably the better team for long spells, I imagine all Mayo fans will have shudders as they recall Kerry lining up two point attempts in the closing moments as, even without playing particularly well, the Kingdom came closer than you could imagine to writing another heart-breaking chapter in the Green & Red book of pain and regret.

You’d want to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the scenes that unfolded in GAA headquarters on Sunday evening once the final whistle sounded; the tidal wave of emotion crashing down on the hallowed turf leaving even the most hardened eye, and even a few Dubs, teary eyed. That’s a big statement because the relationship between Mayo and Dublin fans isn’t exactly warm but on finally crossing the line, you’d want to be a particularly blinkered and cranky fan not to be moved by the scenes that unfolded.

Jack Coyne’s speech, which I reckon forced RTE to extend their coverage into the time reserved for the Irish Athletics Championships, was a simply extraordinary liturgy that never veered into mawkishness, nor boorishness, but gave voice to the tumult of emotions that every Mayo person all around the globe must have been feeling at that very moment. It would have been easy to scream ‘ye never gave us a chance’ and ‘this is for all the doubters’ but what most caught my attention was there was none of that, no point scoring of even a ‘what do you think of that Joe Brolly’ shout-out but rather an outpouring of positivity from one and all.

That is remarkable because very few believed Mayo could produce what they did or that Kerry could fall as flat last Sunday – has the roles being reversed, all we would have heard was ‘typical Mayo’ as Kerry’s championship pedigree and nous was extolled to the heavens. But it seems we are in a new era of a Mayo team as fearless as they are talented, although I’m sure Mayo ex-pat millionaires from all corners of the globe may try to break the bank to keep Kobe McDonald away from Aussie Rules.

The source of this new Mayo may be as hard to find as the source of the Nile but Andy Moran’s elevation into the hot seat has got to be a starting point. His infectious enthusiasm carried Leitrim to a Division 4 Final and promotion after some dark, dark days, most notably in New York’s Gaelic Park, but Moran’s self-belief and confidence never wavered and in this Mayo team, he found fertile ground for the seeds that blossomed last Sunday.

Truth be told, there’ll be a lot of revisionism going on about now – I remember chatting with colleagues from Mayo newspapers when Andy took the Leitrim job and most said there wasn’t a hope of the former Player of the Year ever getting the Mayo job. The dismissal of his chances jarred but as Leitrim incrementally improved over his three years, there was a sea change in the attitude towards the former Leitrim manager and now, it appears that Moran leading Mayo to Sam was carved in a tablet and brought down from Croagh Patrick!

Tellingly, the amount of Leitrim folk who are delighted to see Andy Moran and Mayo win the All-Ireland is startling – Mayo, and their fans, wouldn’t have a reputation for going easy on Leitrim over the years, but there is genuine delight within the county to see Moran and his team get across the line.

Before I move on to the League Finals in Leitrim, hard to imagine with all the hype about Kobe McDonald, justified as it is, that St Clare’s CS Manorhamilton and Bailey McBride in particular did a number on the Crossmolina prodigy just two years ago in a Connacht Schools Final or that Darragh Beirne didn’t look any better than many of the Leitrim Schools team in January 2025 as those two teenagers have kicked on in spectacular fashion.

And as odd as this is for a Dub to announce, I do have an ounce or two of pity for Kerry, not that they lost, far from it, but that they never truly got off the ground and can’t really complain about it. With the entire country willing Mayo on, a bit like the Dubs in 2011, Kerry can only grin and bear it, stewing in their frustration, maybe coming to the realisation that for all the honours the incomparable David Clifford has garnered, he now has only one more Celtic Cross than the entire Mayo team!

Domestically, the KC Motors ACL came to a conclusion over the weekend and while I wasn’t in Pairc Sean on Friday, by all accounts it was a thrilling contest as Gortletteragh staged their own ‘Mayo’ style celebrations after winning the Division 2 crown. I was blessed to take in the Division 3 Final in Cloone and I genuinely mean blessed because Aughnasheelin and Bornacoola produced an epic encounter that had all the best of gaelic football. You can wonder about the defending and have quibbles about the standard but the rip-roaring, full throttle attitude embraced by both teams reminds you of just how good this game can be with Paul Earley and Conor Reynolds, two players are opposite ends of their careers, lighting up the game with superb displays.

Unfortunately that’s where the superlatives run out – Saturday’s Division 1 Final was an historic victory for Leitrim Gaels, and congrats to them on winning their first ever Division 1 crown in their first ever Final, but the game will not live long in the memory. If the games on Friday and Sunday captured the raw essence of what Gaelic football can be, Saturday demonstrated how easy it was for good teams to nullify and frustrate each other in the pursuit of victory. Frustration sums it up because I’ve watched both these teams play much more expansive and attacking football in the last few weeks. Were they holding back in advance of the championship? I don’t know the answer to that but the three finals have certainly whetted the appetite and I am eagerly looking forward to what the championship season brings!