Galway take wing in liberated era

This will surely go down as a watershed year for football. The qualifier series proved the huge appetite for events during the summer months, as well as the sterility of the unchanging provincial system. The GAA has been running senior All-Irelands for 114 years. Yet it was possible for this year's qualifiers to throw up 13 pairings that had never before been seen in the championship.

A number were memorable in their own right. In Newbridge Donegal and Kildare put on as gripping a match as was seen all summer. That afternoon, Galway turned Aughrim into something it's rarely been - a pit stop on the road to an All-Ireland. A maroon-and-white victory has never been as popular in Hyde Park as when Westmeath clawed their way past National League holders Mayo after extra time before a rapt attendance.

Westmeath's odyssey proved another of the new format's great advantages. Given a second chance, they extended their summer until August and gave themselves an eight-match championship. It copper-fastened a marvellous year for Luke Dempsey's team, which in April had secured top league status with a thrilling win over Cork in the Division Two final. If Westmeath were the year's favourite risen people, Sligo weren't far off them.

Foot-and-mouth might have got Sligo into the league semi-finals by removing Tyrone from the equation but it was a landmark achievement for manager Peter Ford in his first year. Later on, in July, they settled an old score. The epic 14-man win over Kildare marked the county's first championship visit to Croke Park since they ambled into Kerry's propellers in 1975.

Connacht football had perhaps its best year ever. The All-Ireland, League and Connacht titles all ended up in the province in the hands of three different counties. The foot-and-mouth crisis meant that the league semi-finals gave the west a full house with Leitrim the odd one out.

In Ulster, Tyrone's young team won the title but couldn't cope with having to renew acquaintance with Derry in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

The spring was all Mayo. In the space of a couple of weeks the county picked up not one but two national titles. Crossmolina-Deel Rovers won the delayed All-Ireland club final, in the process handing Nemo Rangers a rare defeat at this level. Less than a fortnight later, Mayo upset favourites Galway in the league final. But this was as good as it got for Mayo whereas a long and memorable road was ahead of the losers who were reminded afterwards that no beaten league finalists had ever even reached an All-Ireland.

Any other year and that statistic would have held up. Roscommon's sensational defeat of Galway in June proved a springboard to a first Connacht title in 10 years, achieved courtesy of a goal in the fifth minute of injury-time against Mayo - a fitting recognition of how John Tobin had gently rehabilitated the county after a couple of rough years.

The post-Roscommon world must have been one of the toughest challenges John O'Mahony has faced in management. How he negotiated a way forward for a fractious and demoralised panel is a feat that would have been recognised by the Manager of the Year accolade any time other than when such a miracle of silk purse production as World Cup qualification had been up for consideration.

The defence was completely restructured and the youthful talent given a run in the spring was integrated into the panel.

The disappointment of league final defeat was swiftly followed by the occupational hazard of a spat with the Donnellans. In a way the tough sequence of matches helped. Defeat in any of the last five matches would probably have spelt the end of the line for O'Mahony but each obstacle was cleared.

In the end, there was something symbolic about the All-Ireland final victory over Meath as O'Mahony became only the third manager to wipe Boylan's eye at this level. Like the others, Billy Morgan and Peter McGrath, he has now won two All-Irelands.

On the International Rules front, an Ireland team managed by Brian McEniff visited Australia in October and won both tests, proving again that travelling teams fare best while also emphasising the need for the host country to take matters more seriously if the future of the series is to be secured.