Mayo show the way for the Tipp girls

IN ALL FAIRNESS

You just have to stay trying! That’s what the Tipperary senior camogie team have to do after another All-Ireland semi-final defeat on Saturday.

The blow of an eighth semi-final defeat in nine years might have been hard to take on Saturday night and into Sunday morning but it should have been erased later in the afternoon when Mayo ended their own long wait of 75 years to finally win the All-Ireland Senior Football title.

We all wondered what it would be like when Mayo would finally end their years of heartbreak, playing in thirteen finals (11 defeats and 2 draws) since their most recent success in 1951, when it was said that the parish priest of Foxford put a curse on the team for disrespecting a funeral procession on their way home, that they would never win another All-Ireland senior football title until every member of the panel was dead, which came to pass in 2023 with the passing of former GAA President, Dr. Mick Loftus.

So, in Mayo’s first All-Ireland Final since the so-called curse was lifted, they finally go on and win it? It does make you wonder of there is a higher being. However, it could just be that in all the previous thirteen finals, Mayo were underdogs and the games went as expected, even if the margins were small in many of those outcomes.

They were underdogs again on Sunday against Kerry but this time they had the mental fortitude, helped by Nenagh sports psychologist Dr. Rachel Sheehan, that they weren’t going to be denied this time, epitomised by how they worked the final play as the seconds were winding down, having the bravery of a long kick pass out of defence which lifted the siege and led to Tommy Conroy’s clinching point.

The only way the story would have gotten the perfect ending was if Conroy had returned the pass to the supporting Kobe McDonald to score a likely goal, with possibly his final touch as a Gaelic Footballer as he heads off to try and make it in Aussie Rules in the coming weeks.

When I first saw McDonald in action for the first time, scoring 1-4 off the bench in his debut in the National League against Monaghan earlier this year, you could already see this kid was something different, similar to David Clifford. The regret was that we would only get to see him for a short period as he had already committed to joining St Kilda. Instead, what we got was the Boy Wonder fulfilling his peoples’ destiny in the space of five months, doing something hundreds of Mayo players have been chasing for 75 years.

He now departs Down Under with the blessing of the Mayo family, as he has all the attributes to suggest that he will make it in AFL, but hopefully maybe towards the end of his time there he might comeback to try and win another All-Ireland, and he has time considering he is a January child, barely eligible to play adult inter-county this year.

For the rest of the Mayo panel, if they don’t win another one, nothing will surpass what they have, and will experience in the coming weeks and months, particularly for the likes of Aidan O’Shea and the O’Connor brothers, Diarmuid & Cillian, unfairly ridiculed, both inside and outside the county, for their previous failures, but now they are winners.

The same for manager Andy Moran who soldiered with that trio for years. He always came across as a hugely decent fellow as a player and in his fledging management career, even as far as making his way to Clonmel last year to attend the funeral of Tipperary manager Philly Ryan. It shows the class of the man and indeed the closeness of the GAA family that he felt that he had to be there and pay his respects.

The manner in which Mayo finally reached the promised land is something the Tipperary senior camogie team can use to motivate themselves to keep coming back as that is all they can do. Last Saturday’s defeat, while disappointing, is softened by the fact that Cork were the better team. Tipp might have shown their best in the second half but Cork were slicker, quicker, more athletic, and all round better hurlers, highlighted by outscoring Tipp 2-14 to 0-9 from play.

Similar to last years semi-final defeat to Galway, it is greater class at the upper end of the field which is what Cork and Galway have over Tipp at the moment. They just find it easier to work their scores and that is something Tipp manager James Heffernan will reflect on after what is still his first year in charge, and will be aware of the improvements they still have to find to bridge the gap. They just have to stay persevering, like Mayo have, and while there is no guarantee of success at the end of it, it's the only way.