AND still I wonder, is there a goal in this game?

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ballymanabroad
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AND still I wonder, is there a goal in this game?

Post by ballymanabroad »

AND still I wonder, said Michael O'Hehir, is there a goal in this game?

O'Hehir posed that question more than once throughout the afternoon. He could feel something coming. Maybe there was a storm looming in the air that day in September 1982. And maybe he could feel it rolling in from afar, the atmosphere heavy with the sense of impending thunder.

"And there's a free for the Offaly men with two minutes left in the game."

This was an experienced, battle-hardened Offaly team. They weren't going to panic, they were too long on the road for that. So Seán Lowry puts the ball on the ground and instead of taking the free himself he wanders off, leaving it for the next man. No hurry, it's only the All-Ireland final.

"And it looks as if they were winning, the way the Offaly men are just diddling and dawdling there."

The punters decided otherwise last night week, on RTE's Top 20 GAA Moments show, but Séamus Darby's goal remains the Everest, the seismic happening, the Big Bang of the GAA's television age.

But the text generation voted Michael Donnellan top of the poll with Maurice Fitzgerald second and Darby third.

Not that it matters, really, it's only TV after all, and while the players get to make the history, everyone else only gets to play around with it.

But sometimes it's good fun playing around with it - occasionally it can even be instructive. We had forgotten, for example, just how special was Jack O'Shea's goal in the '81 final: all we'd remembered was the crashing finish, not knowing the move had started back on Kerry's own endline. A goal for the ages, by the best Gaelic footballer of our lifetime (so far).

And sometimes it can be misleading. Barney Rock, for one, deserves to be remembered for more than kicking a ball into an empty net against Cork in '87. A farcical moment which, farcically, ended up on this list.

Judged on their intrinsic merit alone, some of the chosen moments would not have made the grade. Other criteria applied: a nod to history, a hint of tokenism, a balancing of the books in some way. Ten RTE judges selected the 20 moments. No criteria could justify the inclusion of Offaly's sitdown protest in '98. Ridiculous.

We discover, only 23 years later, that Connor's diagonal punt was more than a hit-and-hope affair

And if they felt that Peter Canavan had to be included somewhere, his 'return' to the action late in the 2003 final could hardly have been a worse choice. The best forward of our lifetime (so far) reinventing himself as a fouling defender was one of the more depressing moments of modern times.

Still, the concept was good even if there could have been a bit more discernment in the execution. And the live show was alright on the night too, with a few feisty contributions from the floor - and a few blasts from the archives that still bear repeated viewing.

"And here they come, this is Liam Connor the full back." The short free and Connor, all hands to the pump now, joins the attack. The ball is popped to him on the burst and we discover, only 23 years later, that Connor's diagonal punt was more than a hit-and-hope affair. He hooked it carefully, right to left, judging height and distance pretty much to perfection. And then O'Hehir's immortal words. "A high, lobbing, dropping ball, in towards the goalmouth."

John Fenton's brilliant but invisible goal against Limerick in '87 came fourth in the poll, Davy Fitzgerald's penalty in '95 fifth and in sixth, DJ Carey's piece of performance art against Clare in 2002.

But Maurice Fitzgerald's last-second score from the sideline a year before represents some sort of apex in Gaelic football, the point where complete technical virtuosity merged with total self-belief to produce, from a local sport, a truly world class moment.

Some 73,000 votes were cast last Saturday night. In the end it was probably the sheer charisma of Michael Donnellan's moment that won it for him. He didn't gallop seventy, eighty yards up the middle of Croke Park that day in '98: it was more like he flowed. Not so much a demonstration of athletic power as athletic grace - fluent and easy and devastatingly fast.

The thing is, he didn't finish the move himself, he offloaded the ball, and in that moment the magic vanished. But while it lasted people were transported by it - and have been since. Maybe because it was one of those rare moments when a sportsman offers us a glimpse of the freedom we yearn for and can never achieve: freedom from fear, from convention, from the physical limitations we cannot escape but which Donnellan, for a fragment of time, could. Field sports generally don't permit such flights of fantasy but this was a young man's act of abandon and on that day he entered the public imagination for good.

Just as Eddie Keher and Jimmy Barry Murphy did before him, and all the others that went before them, each adding his piece in his time to the tapestry of days and games and heroes that is woven indelibly into Irish life and the national memory.

The high, lobbing, dropping ball. A pair of orange gloves reaches up and pulls it down. The player turns and then instinct takes over.

Everyone liked to imitate O'Hehir in his heyday. So, altogether now: "A shot - a goal, a goal, a goal for Offaly! There was a goal in the game. A goal, oh what a goal. And Offaly lead in the dying moments."

As the man said, there was a goal in this game.
It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe - Muhammad Ali

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ballymanabroad
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Post by ballymanabroad »

Good times..... :D

Deserving winner but I thought Maurice's point would get the vote. Amazing.
It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe - Muhammad Ali

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The Biff
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This is the Moment

Post by The Biff »

Nicley put there Ballymanabroad, but I disagree about the merits of Donnellan's success. I feel there was a touch of the "headless chicken" about the way he finished his storming run, but c'est la vie.

It's funny but O'Hehirs commentary in '82 has almost passed me by. Reading it from your posting above brings back good memories. Truly a Golden Moment.

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Bord na Mona man
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Post by Bord na Mona man »

Also, it's worth noting that Micheal O'Hehir didn't know who scored the goal.
When Seamus Darby came on a few minutes before hand, he was getting mixed up about whether it was Stephen or Seamus who was on.

During the goal replays and even in the after match celebrations, he never mentions Seamus Darby in context of scoring the goal.

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TheManFromFerbane
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Post by TheManFromFerbane »

Granted the more I look at the run the more I like it but in all fairness its not a patch on the skill of Maurice Fitz point, Jack O's or John Fentons goal or the sheer importance and 2memorability" of the 82 goal. I dont know what was going on with the voting but i think its a shame one of the above didn't win.

I would however disagree with ballyman's comment on the sit down protest. It was a unique moment and while no one should be happy that it happened or encourage it in the future it was a unique moment and therefore justified for inclusion.

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Lone Shark
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To be fair

Post by Lone Shark »

To be fair, it wasn't Ballyman's comment - it was taken direct from the Sindo - Tommy Conlon, if memory serves.

It depends on the criteria by which you judge. Most people (from outside Offaly, granted) tend to knock it's inclusion on the grounds that it was farcical, but the truth is that it was memorable, albeit way more so for us, who were there.

On the grounds of memorable, that's why I think Donnellan shouldn't even have been included. I honestly didn't remember it until RTE showed it. I can picture Joyce's sidestep and blast to an empty net, and I can picture Sean O'Domhnaill's monster point from the sideline in that match, but that's my only real memory.

To be honest for overall national resonance, it had to be Darby though. Any other result is just wrong.

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TheManFromFerbane
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Post by TheManFromFerbane »

Apologies so ballyman.

My outstanding memory was of the two teams coming out for the game after the Offaly Clare game, I can’t remember who it was but it was either an intermediate final with limerick and someone else or a game between 2 lesser counties. I remember they were in such a rush to try and keep the crowd for the next game that they sent the two teams on the minute the ref blew the whistle. This added to the hardship that the Croke Park Officials had to deal with but as a result of the protest that game was postponed and re-fixed for a later date at a venue in the arse end of no where.

I know I can’t remember all the details but I just remember thinking, "Those poor buggers, this was probably their only chance of playing in Croke park and to a decent size crowed and they lost it" sad really, if anyone remembers all the details please refresh my memory.

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It was Kerry and Kildare hurlers

Post by Lone Shark »

It was Kerry and Kildare hurlers, and if memory serves they actually got to play in Croke Park the following week anyway, before the Kildare and Kerry AI Semi Final I think.

So I'd say it's fair to say they worked out better on account of it.

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TheManFromFerbane
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Post by TheManFromFerbane »

Oh right thats not so bad so, at least they got their day out.

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ballymanabroad
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Apologies to Tommy Scanlon

Post by ballymanabroad »

Yeah it was lifted from the Irish Independent, sorry it took so long to clear it up but I was sailing for the past few days.
It isn't the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it's the pebble in your shoe - Muhammad Ali

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