All-Ireland Finals

The greatest sporting occasions in Ireland every year are generally the All-Ireland hurling and football finals. This year was one of the most exciting ever, especially in hurling with the big teams of recent years, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Galway, defeated in the provincial championships. Dublin won the Leinster championship and Limerick in Munster. With the backdoor system, whereby a team defeated up to the provincial final can have a second chance, Clare and Cork qualified for the All-Ireland final. After the first game ended in a draw, there was a classic reply where Clare won by 5-16 to 3-16 in what is regarded as one of the greatest finals ever. Neutral people who watched the game on television could not believe that all the players are amateurs, all playing for the glory of their native counties.

In Gaelic football, the two most impressive teams of the year, Dublin, who won the title in 2011, and Mayo qualified for the All-Ireland final. Mayo, with impressive displays in the Connacht championships, the All-Ireland quarter-final and semi-final, promised to bridge the long gap to 1951, when they last won the Sam Maguire Cup. Dublin had other ideas and won by 2-12 to 1-14, in a game that never reached the standard of previous games, especially a wonderful semi-final between Dublin and Kerry. This was Mayo’s seventh defeat in an All-Ireland football final since 1989 (1989, 1995, 1996, 2004, 2006 and 2012). The road to Croke Park for All-Ireland finals in recent times has become the Villa Dolorosa for Mayo supporters. All they can do now is what they have done in the past, that is to keep the faith and hope that their day in the sun will come.

Bernard O'Hara's latest book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish is now on sale in the USA and UK as a paperback book at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or Barnes and Noble

It is also available as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).

An earlier publication, a concise biography of Michael Davitt, entitled Davitt by Bernard O’Hara published in 2006 by Mayo County Council , is now available as Davitt: Irish Patriot and Father of the Land League by Bernard O’Hara, which was published in the USA by Tudor Gate Press (www.tudorgatepress.com) and is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).