New champions; the end of a famine; drama, tension, thrills and so many different emotions. And all of that was just All-Ireland final day. We’ll miss it terribly. We still have the club championships to get our teeth into and we still have the U-21 final this Saturday in Thurles between Limerick and Kilkenny. We still have Mayo and Dublin to savour. But after the first Sunday in September, I can’t escape the feeling that winter is coming.

There were a number of talking points to take away from last Sunday and the first of them is tickets. Galway and Waterford was my 25th hurling final and I’ve never seen a shortage like it. There were simply no spares going anywhere. My heart went out to those genuine supporters around the ground who were plaintively holding signs looking for tickets. These were not the mercenaries we are used to with the anyone-buying-or-selling shout, these were supporters wearing jerseys, prepared to come to Dublin on the outside chance of a ticket. On Sunday, most of them stayed outside.

There were 82,300 in Croke Park on Sunday. I well remember when the stadium was completed and the talk was that the capacity would never be tested. Now we might actually need a bigger boat.

For those inclined to reach for the ever-handy stick to beat the GAA hierarchy with, you would be sorely mistaken. There cannot be a sporting event in the world this size that has such a democratic method of ticket distribution, yet it still doesn’t get the job done. Every club in Ireland got an allocation of tickets. So did many abroad. There had to be about 35,000 each from the opposing counties, but we could have broken the 1000,000 barrier. We most definitely could on Sunday week.

I have no easy answer to ensuring the tickets end up in the right hands, apart from maybe a questionnaire going into the ground. Name the Mayo team? Who played in goal for Dublin in the 1983 All-Ireland final?

OK that’s not really feasible either but you get the picture.

On 17 September, it will be worse. But it’s not all rosy in the garden. Why does the GAA insist on trying to turn All-Ireland final day into some kind of all-things-to-all people production? On Sunday, we had makeshift stages for musicians and comedians; giant flags on the field (probably taking up valuable space during the warm-ups); far too much loud music; a big screen that didn’t do replays of the incidents we really wanted to see and announcements every five minutes not to come on to the pitch.

My somewhat exaggerated point is that the All-Ireland finals can stand on their own. They do not need embellishment.

We already have the sheer release of the teams flying out on to the field. We have the President meeting the teams. We have the parade (please don’t ever take that primal walk away from us). We have the anthem. We have electricity guaranteed.

We have the half-time interval when the spectators need a break too. And some of them would like to talk about what just happened on the pitch. Do we really need to be constantly entertained? Does the atmosphere on this day need to be contrived?

I sometimes get the feeling that someone in the GAA thinks that we’ll go home at half-time if we aren’t entertained. It’s overkill and at times it is turning the All-Ireland final occasion into a kind of a Tops of the Towns (ask your parents if you don’t remember).

Mini-rant over.

The last salient point from Sunday was the performance of referee Fergal Horgan. The Tipperary man did an outstanding job. Such displays should always be recognised. I hope he gets the next five finals (which will mean Tipp aren’t in them!).

Nothing typifies the hold the GAA has over us more than Monday night’s poignant scenes from both Pearse Stadium and the Quays in Waterford.

If Sam could by any chance follow his first cousin Liam to Connacht, then we will be searching for new words because the many we have simply won’t communicate properly what this would mean to Mayo people the world over.

If a genie appeared as I write this and offered me three wishes, I swear one of them would be for Mayo to beat Dublin. CL

Familiar foes meet again as camogie goes centre stage

The quest for All-Ireland glory continues in Croke Park on Sunday with the O’Duffy Cup the prize on offer for the hurlers of Cork and Kilkenny. A repeat of last year’s final, these girls know each other well at this stage and on this stage. So do the counties. Apart from a two-year spell when Wexford and Galway appeared in successive finals in 2011 and 2012, you have to go back to 1984 for a final that didn’t include either the Rebels or the Cats.

Kilkenny are defending champions having won a tense struggle last year. This encounter should be the same. With a couple of the Cork dual stars now down to only one chance of a medal this year, I suspect they’ll take it.

They have a chance to double up too in the intermediate final when their second string take on Meath, while Dublin and Westmeath contest the junior final at 12pm. If you’re TV-bound this Sunday, you could do a lot worse than tune in – camogie final day is usually excellent viewing.

Under-21 final

On Saturday at 3pm, the same definitely applies when Limerick and Kilkenny meet in the U-21 final. This has the makings of a right contest and we can read plenty into the result. Leinster haven’t had a winner at this grade in almost a decade, while Limerick were champions two years ago, with some of that team on duty again this weekend.

The Shannonsiders have a lot invested in this team and many are expected to be senior stalwarts; some like Cian Lynch, Barry Nash, Sean Finn, Ronan Lynch, Peter Casey and Tom Morrissey already are. In contrast, the Cats don’t tend to place much short-term stock in this grade, preferring to let players season a few years before bringing them into the senior squad. However, recent events at senior level – along with the success Clare, Cork and Waterford have had combining hurlers at both grades – may necessitate a change to black-and-amber thinking.

They’ll want this title and, bizarre as it sounds, their confidence could do with it. But it won’t happen. This is a serious Limerick side, one that captured a proper Munster championship and saw off a decent Tribe in the semi-final.

They mightn’t perhaps win games as easily as they should, but make no mistake, Limerick – a bit like winter – are coming.