Sport

Danny Hughes: Mayo must focus on final - as Down great 'King James' would have done

Mayo players celebrate after ending Dublin's seven-year unbeaten run in Championship football.<br /> Pic Philip Walsh
Mayo players celebrate after ending Dublin's seven-year unbeaten run in Championship football.
Pic Philip Walsh
Mayo players celebrate after ending Dublin's seven-year unbeaten run in Championship football.
Pic Philip Walsh

Since I left intercounty football, a day wouldn’t go by that I don’t miss the games – those big occasions such as last weekend’s semi-final.

While I didn’t play as many games in Croker as some of last weekend’s players, those that I did were memorable, even if the result didn’t go our way.

If you aspire to play football, Croke Park is where you want to play.

Kicking a point into the ‘Hill’ is something that you only appreciate after the curtain comes down on your career.

In those moments, you don’t have the time to savour the moments, it’s not like a run in a forest park when you can stop and take it all in.

The overwhelming feeling is, ‘right next ball’, ‘where’s my man’.

On Saturday last, there were no talk of curses and bad luck from Mayo, it came down to pure work-rate and stubbornness in not succumbing to the inevitable annual beating to Dublin.

The Mayo players will have savoured last weekend’s game but immediately after when I saw them celebrate, I was a wee bit uncomfortable looking on.

They have won semi-finals before, even as underdog so they should have been quietly confident going into the game.

There is still a final to be won.

Dublin had been stuttering –All-Ireland champions yes– but even the most ardent fan would admit, the warning signs have been there this year.

I nearly wanted to run on and tell the Mayo players that there was still a final here and ironically, it will probably be against a team, next to Dublin, that they have struggled to beat in the Championship.

While Kerry have Tyrone to play, you would have to think, given Tyrone’s struggles with COVID, the Kingdom have a great chance of meeting Mayo in September.

Who can forget ‘that replay’ in Limerick a few years ago when Kerry came back from the brink and would go on to win an All-Ireland.

2014 would be the last year any team outside of Dublin landed the biggest prize.

Should Tyrone beat Kerry in a few weeks, I would fancy Mayo to break that famine and win an All-Ireland.

However, should Kerry beat Tyrone, dare I say it, Mayo could again find themselves labelled as that of bridesmaid again.

Kerry have a serious forward line.

Moreover, the Kingdom will carry no fear of Mayo.

I can understand the Tyrone management’s logic in seeking to ‘eek’ out every conceivable advantage in order to prepare their charges against Kerry.

It is fair to say that there are contradictions in the covidrules these last few years, considering Sligo and Fermanagh have had requests for re-fixtures turned down.

However, this is an All-Ireland semi-final and Tyrone are Ulster Champions with a considerable amount of sway in headquarters.

The ’will they won’t they’ saga was a big game of poker and really the GAA had no other choice other than to grant Tyrone their wish.

Had the GAA authorities not agreed to move the date of their fixture back another week Tyrone may well have not fielded and as a result thrown the entire championship into disarray.

A farcical blame game would have ensued.

Kerry management will have been building the team dynamics to play as soon as possible with one postponement unfortunate, but two extremely frustrating.

As a player, you want certainty of fixtures to allow yourself to mentally prepare for a game of this magnitude.

You want to be physically close to boiling point in terms of preparation and the GAA really should have consulted better with Tyrone before agreeing to a date for the re-fixture.

Tyrone are not entirely blame-less either.

After all, there has been carefully planned protocol’s in place regarding all teams and given a number of players missed the Ulster final due to isolation, Tyrone, individually and collectively, should have been much more careful in these last few weeks.

Regardless, Tyrone will want their last few weeks of preparation to be smooth and equally Kerry will want to be tested – at the end of the day, the Kingdom, if they are now favourites for the All Ireland title, will have to be at their best to beat this Mayo team.

A testing semi-final, akin to the challenge Mayo encountered, will be ideal preparation for either Tyrone or Kerry.

Kerry look to have the better forward line currently and in the absence of any drama involving COVID, should be ideally prepared to face anything the Red Hands are likely to throw at them.

On Saturday, in Down, the county lost a mammoth icon in James McCartan Senior who passed away before any ball was thrown in at Croke Park.

James would have loved to have watched that semi-final, no doubt whoever the underdog happened to be, James would have been plugging away for them.

Underdog or not, James had that confidence to carry himself as the favourite in any case.

The McCartan family are synonymous with Down and James senior established this legacy.

It would follow right through to his children, James, Charlie Pat, Daniel and Eoin all having played for Down with such distinction.

When we talk about GAA royalty in Down, the McCartan’s are just this.

As I spent time with the McCartan family in these last few days, the photographs and celebration of the families achievements were immense and the pride within which he held all of them, including many Greyhound winning titles, shone brightly.

What a legacy he left.

But the sporting icon that James McCartan is and was is just one part of this extraordinary man.

When John Byrne lost his mother and father at 14 years of age, his father’s best friend was James McCartan senior.

John didn’t want to go to school anymore and James senior told him he was to get his exams first and he would give him a job thereafter.

John Byrne spent his first Christmas with the McCartan family and stayed there for the rest of his life until he got married.

Nothing to do with football, John and James senior became Greyhound fanatics.

John Byrne became unofficially an adopted son of James McCartan and his wife Marie.

In life, sometimes sport defines a man, but James McCartan was much bigger than that of a Gaelic footballer.

He had an opinion and wasn’t afraid to share it but more importantly he had a humanity and love of people that few have.

To his family, including John Byrne and the countless other people James helped throughout his life, his soul will rest peacefully in Heaven as a centre half forward, two time player of the year and All-Ireland winner.

As a husband, father, grandfather, adopted father, teammate, manager, colleague and Icon ArdheisDé go raibhah'anam.