If the first half of the replayed semi final today wasn't the best exhibition of football served in my lifetime I don't know what was.
The intensity ,honesty and skill on view left nothing to be desired.
And it was particularly gratifying to see Paddy Andrews in such scintillating form and earning the Man of the Match accolade.Very well deserved.
As a former Chairman and member of Saint Brigids for many years I take pride in his achievements.
Just last year my good friend and President of the Club ,Herbie Hughes ,confided in me that he didn't think that Paddy was getting a fair shake from the Dublin management team.
Thanks to be God that they have seen the light and given him a fair chance to showcase the vast array of talents at his disposal.
I don't know this guy nor his people as far as I know but he is a good one.
More than likely he was introduced to Football by Tony Hegarty,encouraged by Davy Nolan and Brendan Mac Namee, who did trojan work in Castleknock school to popularise the GAA in what was barren ground three short decades ago.
For me the turning point in the game was the dismissal of Seamos O Shea for responding ,very moderately in my view .to the knavish and cowardly blow from behind by the Dublin player.
O Shea is a man and the cowardly blow from behind was a disgrace..
It is a sad day for the ASSOCIATION when manly reaction to a sneaky and cowardly blow is penalised and the knave goes free of punishment and and the game hinges on the unjust dismisal,
My personal view is that his Black Card thing should be binned entirely.
It would be more effective by far to awatd the team which is rogued two points from the resultant free if scored and if the foul is committed in the half of the offended team to bring the free to the forty five meter line.
Dublin have a gem of a manager in Jim Gavin but I fear that he will have to put his best troops on from the start in the final.
We won't win the battle without the best troops on the field ab initio.
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