When the final whistle sounded at Croke Park last Sunday, a number of emotions swept through me.
There was sadness for my former Mayo teammates at being beaten but there was also the sense of the end of an era for James Horan, confirmation of which arrived the following day.
And what an era it was.
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James owes nothing to Mayo football. He was a brilliant player, but his greatest legacy will be his two terms as manager.
His first spell came at a time when Mayo football was in turmoil after defeats to Sligo and Longford in 2010 and the irony is that his managerial career almost ended before it started.
In 2011, Kevin McLoughin kicked a late equaliser to force extra time against London. Little did he know at the time, but that score was the catalyst for a decade of challenging at the top table, with massive highs and lows along the way. Had Kevin missed, James mightn’t have survived the huge fallout that would have inevitably followed.
I was in my parents’ kitchen that day, glued to Mid West’s radio coverage. Little did I know the huge impact that James Horan and that team were going to have on me going forward.
Having been dropped off the panel in 2009, I was in the inter-county wilderness. But, coming home from work one day in November 2011, a phone call from James changed that.
The dressing room that I re-entered housed a completely different environment to the one that I had left over two years previously.
He had created a culture that players could thrive in. A lot of players’ careers had been going backwards and he set them on a completely different path. He developed and unleashed generational players such as Lee Keegan and Cillian O’Connor. He made us believe we could compete with the best on the biggest stage.
Were there some tough days? Most definitely - All-Ireland final defeats in 2012 and ‘13 were gut-wrenching but James never stopped driving us forward, eking out percentages everywhere he could.
He stepped down after the crushing defeat to Kerry in 2014. It was as tough a day as I can recall as a player. The man who allowed us to dream was now gone.
When he returned in 2019 there was still a core group from his first stint but after the defeat to Dublin in the All-Ireland semi final, I believe he made the decision that, to compete with them, he needed more strong runners.
In the next two years, numerous players that matched the athletic profile that he sought broke through. With that came more focus on a possession-based running game and the defeat of Dublin in last year’s semi-final bore all the hallmarks of what the latest iteration of a James Horan team should be.
Managing at the highest level for two years during lockdowns and restrictions must have been extremely challenging. The fact he guided the team to All-Ireland finals in both years shows the resolve that he had built into the players.
Losing to Tyrone last year invited the most stinging criticism of his time in charge. Some of it turned toxic and James wouldn’t be human if it didn’t affect him. A man that dedicated so much of his life to Mayo football didn’t deserve that.
Did he get everything right during his eight years in charge? Certainly not, but he got an awful lot right.
The biggest compliment I can pay James is that you would run through a brick wall for him. Anything less and you felt like you were letting him down.
He gave us magical days and I, for one, am thankful for everything he did.
Galway or Derry ready to pounce with big two vulnerable
It was a real privilege to be in Croke Park last Sunday to experience the incredible atmosphere and drama of the Galway-Armagh game.
Rian O’Neill made the call to Armagh fans to turn Croke Park orange and they certainly answered it. The Championship was crying out for a game of quality, drama and controversy - and it came in bucket loads.
For Galway to come through that cauldron-like atmosphere with a win shows they are a team making huge strides and anything is now possible for them.
Pádraic Joyce will have concerns that a pattern is emerging of letting teams back into the game in the closing stages, however. Mayo and Armagh especially came back to the dead to almost snatch victories that would scarcely have been deserved.
For both Galway and Derry, a huge opportunity awaits.
Injuries to key players make Dublin and Kerry vulnerable.
Con O’Callaghan and James McCarthy are up against it for next weekend, while there is no doubt David Clifford was not operating at full tilt last Sunday and that has to be a major concern for Kerry.
Shootouts too much of a penalty
The spectacle of penalty shootouts deciding huge Championship games has been a divisive topic this week.
I’m in two minds about it myself. I was intrigued at the prospect of the shootout last Sunday but there was a very strange atmosphere in the stadium as it played out.
Maybe it was the downpour or just the fact that Armagh missing two penalties early on meant that it never really took off - the writing was on the wall for them and it felt like an anti-climax.
Given the choice, I think a golden score after extra time would be a more agreeable way to decide the outcome.
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