Gaelic Games: The meeting of Galway and Kerry at the Gaelic Grounds next week is bound to bring about wistful recollections of the September classics these counties produced in the years before football went all Ulster.
It was no great surprise Kerry did not entertain any romantic endings to Mick O'Dwyer's visit to the home place with Laois, running out 1-15 to 0-10 victors in Killarney.
Events in Castlebar were a slightly different matter. It is a pity Manchester United star Wayne Rooney does not follow the sport of his ancestors. He would no doubt be tantalised to learn that Galway were available at 25 to 1 for this year's league title little over a week ago. Peter Ford's men have stormed out of the blue this spring and yesterday's combination of muscle and skill deepens the hunch that they have the substance to make the coming summer count. Whether they have the wherewithal to deny Kerry what would be a restorative league title is less certain, but against their local rivals Mayo they made a clear statement of intent.
Many Connacht championship games of recent years paled into sleepy insignificance in comparison to the furious and often heated nature of yesterday's match. It was a game both counties were desperate not to lose and in coming out on top, Galway made their presence felt with some bruising challenges and glorious scores.
It was not particularly high scoring, 1-11 to 1-05 being enough for a convincing away win. But unlike the open, almost courteous style that traditionally prevails in the west, every ball was contested bitterly and it was, as the television men say, "physical out there".
"It's not physical. It was spoiling," lamented Mayo manager Mickey Moran later. The fine work done by the Derryman over the league came unglued to a degree here.
"That was not physical. If you want to see physical, come up to Ulster. But I have to say, you spend hours and hours coaching teams properly and on the day the man in the middle can have a big, big bearing. Not that Galway didn't deserve to win it but I thought the decisions in the scoring ends of the field were very inconsistent." Certainly, referee David Coldrick was content to let the athletes play, regardless of the robustness of the game. Galway hit hungrily and with enthusiasm, letting Mayo's key men know they meant business. Early on, the lightning wing back Peadar Gardiner was stilled by a - legitimate - clattering from Diarmuid Blake. And when David Brady rose for his first ball, it seemed like half of Galway leapt with him. The Ballina man stayed on the ground.
"Aye, we think that David broke his jaw in the first attack," said Moran. "He played on and the doctors were worried but that showed you. David wanted to die for Mayo out there."
And there was that kind of raw passion about the day. After Mattie Clancy established Galway's superiority with a sumptuous goal on 28 minutes, Mayo had to chase the day. They brought in the gallant Brady and then drew swoons and screams from the gallery by giving the public Ciarán McDonald. Not since Joe Dolan last encored with Good Lookin' Woman in Kiltimagh has the West heard such lustful screams of approval. And on Easter Sunday too.
McDonald will be key to Mayo's summer hopes but he could perform no miracles here. It was Galway who made the impression and there is the sense that the prodigious talents like Michael Donnellan, Paul Clancy, Pádraic Joyce, Declan Meehan and Derek Savage have all had intimations of their sporting mortality and are building for a last charge. And on the move, Galway take stopping.
Down in Killarney, it was a subdued homecoming for Mick O'Dwyer. Trailing by 0-8 to 0-5 on the verge of the half-time respite, the Laois boys fatally took an eye off Colm Cooper and he thanked them with a goal, reeling in Darragh Ó Sé's booming pass and rolling the ball into Fergal Byron's goal. He made it look so simple as to be evil. Laois kept looking for the breaks in the second half, Billy Sheehan and Paul McCormack both threatening the Kerry goal, but they could not eat into the Kerry advantage. The final takes place next week in Limerick, a county where hurling is all the talk at the moment.
The Limerick hurlers continued their fine renaissance with a 0-21 to 0-14 victory over Waterford in their quarter-final, retaining their unbeaten record for the season. Tipperary's fortunes are also turning for the better, with Babs Keating's men edging out Offaly in an entertaining game that ended 2-21 to 3-14.
How the leagues line up
National Football League, Division One final
Kerry v Galway, Gaelic Grounds Limerick, 5.30
National Football League Division Two final
Donegal v Louth v, Breffini Park, 3.30
National Hurling League Division One semi-finals
Clare v Limerick, Thurles, 1.30
Kilkenny v Tipperary, Thurles, 3.15
National Hurling League, Division Two sem-final
Mayo v Kerry, Ennis, 2.30
