Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Just like the surprising ease with which Kerry dealt with Donegal’s challenge in last Sunday’s All-Ireland SFC final, Tipperary’s victory over Cork in the hurling final a week earlier wasn’t one that too many saw coming. Not that there’s anything wrong with the unexpected; in fact that’s the beauty of sport. No matter where you go, no matter the team, the game, the sport, every success story has a very different narrative behind it.

Tipp’s victory was no different. There were so many backstories. Their form had quite literally fallen off a cliff since their last All-Ireland victory in 2019, with their semi-final triumph over Kilkenny being their first trip to Croke Park since then, yet Liam Cahill has now managed his county to All-Ireland minor, U20 and senior victories in less than 10 years. Or then there was Noel McGrath’s story, full stop.

But with every winner comes a runner-up and again it was the turn of Cork. And then Donegal on Sunday. We, as Mayo people, know better than anyone that most stomach churning feeling walking back up Jones’ Road in utter disappointment as the dream of landing the holy grail falls short again. And yet for all the finals we’ve lost, I could only imagine the absolute horror if Mayo ever produced a collapse of Cork’s proportion. That’s a can of worms I don’t even want to think about opening. The Rebels, as strong favourites, were almost coronated beforehand and when they led by six points at the break, I was doubly sure it would be the case. But history will show that did not happen, and that Cork have instead now lost three All-Ireland hurling finals in five years, trumped only by the Mayo hurlers who have lost three in the last four years.

Back on June bank holiday weekend, our Green and Red boys lost out in the Nickey Rackard Cup final to Roscommon, and there were real parallels with Cork’s defeat. In 2024, Cork lose out narrowly to Clare in the All-Ireland decider, when earlier that summer Mayo had lost narrowly to Donegal in the Rackard final. Roll the clock on 12 months, both teams are back in their respective finals having won league titles in the spring, having flexed their muscles en route to the finals, and are big favourites to go a step further this year. Should I mention both sides let six point leads slip in this year’s deciders?

To be fair to Mayo, they had a stellar season, and will deservedly play Division 2 hurling in 2026, and unlike Cork they only lost their All-Ireland final by a last gasp point.

I had the privilege this year to follow the Mayo hurlers right across the country, covering their games for Midwest Radio. It took me to places familiar and not so familiar, including an early March trip to the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds in Armagh on a sunny Sunday that wouldn’t have been out of place in the month of June or July. It’s a wonderful venue for any game, and a place the Armagh folk take huge pride in. In each of the previous two seasons I had the opportunity to also go up there for Mayo ladies football games, each experience better than the last, meeting some real GAA-mad folk in the best possible way. Their little sit down area on your way to the press box is covered in photographs of players and teams of old; you’d never think they were behind ourselves in the football roll of honour.

Our hurlers’ final game of the league was a straight shootout with Wicklow in Aughrim for a spot in the Division 3 final and in Division 2 next season, so off we set for another excursion towards the Wicklow Mountains. To call it a fun drive would be a slight overstatement but we made it and in we went to the small press box at the back of the stand. Like the Armagh folk, those in Wicklow love their GAA; their footballers took over this year really, but a healthy hurling contingent were there to watch Mayo get the better of their native side, and their hospitality was wonderful.

Onto the league final on the same Saturday that Connacht and Munster rugby fans took over Castlebar, we punched Manguard Park, Hawkfield, Co Kildare into the sat-nav. More akin with a Centre of Excellence than a county ground and not a broadcast booth to be had, we made it work and were on hand for the hurlers’ finest hour of the season. There was such variety in each of those venues, all totally different to the others, and none more so than Adrian Freeman Memorial Park in Tooreen, a venue that’s effectively a second home for many of our county’s hurling stars.

It played host to a Round 3 league encounter between Mayo and our neighbours Roscommon – one which Mayo won at least. Perched up nicely on the side of a truck, this makeshift press box was a personal favourite of 2025 for me. I’ve spoken about the Armagh and Wicklow folk and their lust for our games, but the Tooreen folk top them with the pride they have for Mayo hurling. We weren’t leaving there hungry or thirsty either that afternoon. But it had also dawned on me during my drive there that it was a unique trip too.

From my playing days (not over yet), both adult and underage with Ballycroy and Erris St Pat’s, and with my chosen career path, I had visited every active club ground on mainland Mayo with the exception of Tooreen (I’ll get to Inishturk yet!). Some of those places, like Ballycroy and Bangor, I’d know every square inch of, others I might have paid a single visit to, yet they were still memorable.

Certain venues will always stick with you, for a variety of reasons. Anyone that has played in Newport throughout the years and played uphill – eh, I mean into the town end – in the second-half won’t forget it in a hurry! Or what about the absolute bewilderment when you first laid eyes on the yellow goalposts out in Louisburgh, the most on-brand colour scheme in the county! Yellow goalposts are about as rare as a game in Tallagh, the home of Belmullet, without some class of gale-force wind.

There’s also grounds that stick out as places that hold a brilliant atmosphere. Go and watch a championship game in the ‘Saucer’ in Hollymount or any North Mayo derby in Crossmolina is special, particularly when perched in the very high commentary ‘box’ between the two dugouts. Garrymore was another place I had visited in the past but the South Mayo field under the lights of a big championship game last year was a sight to behold. We all have our favourites and least favourites, but each one hold memories.

Nothing, from a reporting point of view, is quite like a trip to the Stephenites where upstairs in the clubhouse is as good a venue there is in the county, not to mention the hearty welcome you receive there for every visit. Let’s be honest too, the tunnel out onto the pitch is as cool as it gets in the county, plus a fine surface to boot. I’ll hedge my bets and say the 2021 county senior final between Knockmore and Belmullet, particularly the pre-match parade, boasted the best atmosphere I’ve seen for a club game in Mayo. Simply put, James Stephens Park is a wonderful venue for any game – unless you’re me! Just once I’ve managed to grace the field there, for a league game a few years back in the middle of a glorious spell of weather, and while deciding to go on a foolish run with the ball, I was upended and left the field with a dislocated shoulder!

Such is the thing with any venue, we all have a different memory and opinion of a place. While Cork people will be starting to feel a little bit like us here in Mayo about Croke Park, it’s not to say they don’t have a special memory elsewhere, in Kanturk perhaps or dare I say, Killeagh.

Club championship 2025 is almost upon us and I’m sure by the time it’s over, there’ll be great memories about some venues while other folk will curse and pray they never see inside the gates of that ground again. That’s all in the beauty of the sport.