THE face of Angelina Nugent was a study in suspense. aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 17s tennis racket Articles As she turned her back on the game in Croke Park, her head cupped in her hands, the MWR aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 3s Dance And Rhythm An Inseparable Pair broadcaster reflected the drama played out in the hearts of every follower everywhere as a Mayo lead of ten points dwindled Air Jordan 7s down to two.
My notes are a mess of indecipherable scrawl . . . as Air Jordan 2010 if a spider had crept Air Jordan 5 Retro across the pages out of an ink patch. There is no sense to them. But the memory of Seamus O’Shea’s final point of the match, and of Keith Higgins jubilantly emerging with the ball from the ruck in his own goalmouth to secure victory is indelibly inscribed in the memory.
For more than twenty minutes we watched that incredible lead of ten points shrink one by one as Mayo struggled to regain the initiative that had shaped it.
Injuries had disrupted their rhythm. Lee Keegan, Enda Varley, Kevin McLoughlin and sub Richard Feeney had left the scene. Only two points separated them. Dublin were on fire. David Clarke had aOlernKienOP Air Jordan CDP Games to Play at Women dramatically saved from point blank range from Bernard Brogan, and as Mayo’s energy drained away, and cramp knotted their muscles, we feared the worst.
Other Mayo teams would have folded under such pressure. But Barry Moran had begun to win vital ball in the middle of the field. Kevin McLoughlin reappeared with his head in bandage. And the forwards got to see the Dublin posts again.
Cillian O’Connor, it seemed, had a chance after Jason Gibbons landed him with a pass, but for once the ball screwed off the Ballintubber Air Jordan 12s man’s boot.
Then it came floating in and Michael Conroy grasped it with the confidence he had shown all day. But somehow aOlernKienOP Air Jordan Fusion 4 The History of Shoe Boxes he, too, failed to connect with a fisted effort and the ball dropped wide. And our nerves began to jangle.
We held our breath as Mayo surged again. Alan Freeman was fouled and from the free Cillian O’Connor with nerves of steel slammed the ball between the posts.
But Dublin were still rampant, winning almost all the broken ball in the middle of the field and the Mayo defence was stretched. They gave away some frees in order to prevent goals, aOlernKienOP Nike LeBron 12 York County mosquito spraying set for 7 and it was from one of those that Brogan reduced the lead to two points again.
Then, Seamus O’Shea, not long in at midfield for his brother Aidan, broke through the centre and his final score of the match left Dublin searching for a goal to save their All Ireland title.
They tried a daisy cutter from a free but a Mayo boot deflected the ball out for a ’45 and from that last kick of the game Higgins, as he had done throughout the seventy minutes, cleared from the goal line in dramatic fashion . . . and launched Mayo into the All Ireland final for the first time Air Jordan Spizike in six years.
Although he had been selected, pre match rumours that Alan Brogan had failed a last minute fitness test proved correct and in his place Dublin gave the corner shirt to young Ciaran Kilkenny who, as it turned out, was one of their best forwards.
The rumours that Eamon Fennell had cried off before the game were less correct, but neither Fennell nor his partner Denis Bastic quite matched the endeavours of Aidan O’Shea or Barry Moran at midfield.
O’Shea was quite magnificent in the first half helping out in defence, dispossessing, shaking off every sort of tackle, and moving the ball with competent sweeps of his left foot.
Moran became more prominent as the game progressed. As O’Shea tired and Dublin crowded midfield in a successful ploy to spill the ball, the need for Moran to win possession was vital. The big man rose to the occasion and played a major part in stemming the Dublin tide in the last quarter.
MAYO started without wing back Colm Boyle who, it was said, had picked up a virus. Chris Barrett took his place and did a good job. But they suffered a big blow when Lee Keegan was forced to retire with a severe hand injury that could keep the Westport man out of the All Ireland final.
The selectors Air Jordan 8s called on Richie Feeney to fill that onerous Nike KD 7 position and the Castlebar Mitchels’ man left his mark on the game with a solid performance that maintained the overall reliability of the defence . . . until he, too, was forced to retire with an injury.
In the opening aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 20s Top Name Brand American Fridges Offer Reliable Service minutes that defence was under severe pressure as Diarmuid Connolly, Bernard Brogan and Paul Flynn sought to unhinge it, to work their way through especially from the aOlernKienOP Air Jordan 1s other faith groups lobby for smoke left wing.
Except for one shot, from Bryan Cullen, that smacked off the crossbar they were aOlernKienOP Air Jordan Fusion 5 How to Be Comfortable and Fashionable in Yoga Pants never allowed an inch of room by Ger Cafferkey, Higgins, who took over at full back, Kevin Keane, and to a lesser extent Donal Vaughan.
All through, they, and goalkeeper David Clarke, stood firm even in the face of Dublin’s mounting ferocity during the last quarter. All of them showed remarkable Air Jordan 23s coolness under pressure and played the ball intelligently out of defence.
By the time Keegan left the field in the 15th minute Mayo had wiped out the effect of Dublin’s opening two points with two magnificent scores of their own from the ’45 by OConnor. Then Michael Conroy catapulted them into the lead with his left foot out on Air Jordan 18s the left wing . . . a lead they never lost.
O’Connor’s ice cool free taking into the intimidating din and racket of the Hill 16 goal was a feature of the game. His poise and distribution in the full forward role had the Dublin defence always guessing.
Alan Dillon had already begun to establish himself as the font of Mayo’s growing dominance. His Air Jordan DMP orchestrating ability had not been lost on Dublin in the run up to the match, but whatever plan they drew up to curb him failed to ignite.
Once again the Ballintubber man drew on all his vision and inventiveness to steer Mayo to victory aOlernKienOP Air Jordan Women Size The Masterpieces with his deft deliveries and timely scores.
We didn’t envisage Mayo’s plan in getting the ball so directly to the full forward line. But playing it wide allowed Enda Varley and Conroy the scope to win the race for the ball and to use it cleverly and confidently. Both were a constant threat to the Dublin defence.
Jason Doherty and McLoughlin joined in Mayo’s accumulation of twelve points in the first half each scoring from distance, and aOlernKienOP Jordan Winterized 6 Rings Nike Lebron 8 Ps Dunkman 2011 the work rate of McLoughlin was another telling factor in swamping Dublin’s ambition.
When Mayo were in full flight in the second half and building toward that ten point lead we were thrilling to the passion and the purity of their football. And if Jason Doherty had tucked away a good chance of a goal when Mayo were nine points ahead the game would have been put beyond all doubt.
When, however, you consider the spate of injuries sustained by Mayo, only then does the merit of their win sink home. To have lost four of their best players, Keegan, McLoughlin, Feeney and Varley, let alone Andy Moran, would have destabilised teams of greater stature.
That’s an indication of the extent to which James Horan and his team have prepared Mayo. The selectors use of the blood sub was adroitly applied to their advantage.
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