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OCTOBER 6-12, 2016
REFLECTIONS: BONUS TERRITORY: UCD and Terenure run up flurry O’SULLIVAN’S In the aftermath of more glory, of tries in cracking UBL Division 1A rugby league P30 Cian looks back on 2016 P29
The Dublin players and their families celebrate winning back-to-back All-Ireland senior football titles. Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Dublin’s intense delight Kilmacud Crokes’ Mannion catapulted into starting line-up for final to play key role in returning Sam Maguire to the capital for another year KARL GRAHAM
sport@dublingazette.com
PAUL Mannion described the “intensity like “something you can’t imagine” as he played a strong role in helping Dublin defeat Mayo by a point in their All-Ireland SFC final replay. The 23-year-old Mannion was on the bench for the first final but, after impressing when introduced, he was catapulted into the starting 15 on Saturday by manager Jim Gavin and played a key role in the dramatic decider. Speaking after the game, the Kilmacud Crokes man told of his delight at winning his second All-Ireland medal having missed last season due to a stint in China and Vietnam.
“The intensity is like something you can’t imagine. Training can only prepare you so much – when you get out there it’s a completely different feeling, a completely different level. I was out of breath the whole time and it’s extremely difficult. “It’s an All-Ireland final so we said before we went out that we’d absolutely empty ourselves and the lads were there to come off the bench to finish the job and they did that.” In a game that held all the same tension and talking points of its predecessor, it was Dublin who edged it 1-15 to 1-14 to secure the first All-Ireland double in the county’s history. Dublin had learned from their slow start in
the first game and started this one with much more intensity to race into a four-point lead within the first ten minutes, three of them coming from the boot of championship top scorer Dean Rock. Mayo didn’t panic, however, and were soon level after a four-point salvo of their own. The ascendency was swinging back and forth until Mayo struck the first goal of the game in the 18th minute through the controversial Lee Keegan. A minute later and more scrutiny was shone on the divisive black card rule after Jonny Cooper was given an early bath for grabbing the ankles of Mayo full-back Donal Vaughan. Keegan then saw black for a similar offence
on Diarmuid Connolly just before the end of a half that threatened to boil over after three yellow cards were flashed. Probably the biggest moment of the match came early in the second-half when Mayo keeper Rob Hennelly fumbled a Paul Flynn delivery into the hands of Paddy Andrews before fouling the forward as he went for goal. Hennelly was black carded and St Vincent’s star Connolly stepped up to finish clinically past replacement keeper David Clarke. Dublin’s stronger bench seemed to make the difference and when Cillian O’Connor drifted a placed ball wide deep into added time, it was the Dubs who left Croke Park in ecstasy.