Least said, soonest mended

GAELIC GAMES/All-Ireland SFC semi-final: So, this strange football summer grows an extra day to accommodate itself. Mayo and Fermanagh, a novel pairing if ever there was one, take to the floor again next Saturday and when they lock themselves into another embrace they'll both carry their equal share of hopes and regrets.

Fermanagh should really have done the unthinkable yesterday. They should have reached an All-Ireland final. Not just any All-Ireland final but an All-Ireland final under the guidance of a first-time intercounty manager, an All-Ireland final with just the bare bones of last year's team remaining, an All-Ireland final with two of the county's greatest players in self-imposed exile in Dublin, an All- Ireland final without ever having won Ulster. But . . .

For the last five minutes at Croke Park with 64,518 heads held in that many pairs of hands the game balanced on a blade, Fermanagh struck, one, two, three wides. A Tom Brewster kick steepled high into the muggy air and dropped into the Mayo square. Every breath was held. Every breath was expelled.

And Mayo? They enjoyed a spell in the first half where they ratta-tat-tatted six points over without reply. So sweet did they look we thought they were about to cut loose, to slap Fermanagh faces till the boys from the Erne woke up and found they were in Croke Park in an All-Ireland semi-final. Fermanagh would shiver and shrivel and that would be it. But . . .

In the second period Mayo could muster just two points from play and one from a free kick. Ostensibly the wind was assisting them but the breeze swirled and jigged so much that it was more of a hindrance.

At half-time the margin had been as thin as cigarette paper. Mayo had their six points. Fermanagh had five. That wind was blowing. Light rains were dancing like gauze curtains hung from high. Two teams had trooped in doors to hear their managers tell them there was everything to play for and 35 minutes left in which to play for it.

It was an odd and wonderful day. Everything to play for and two teams who can scarcely have expected last spring to have been playing for it. They looked so young and so spry.

The elements and the occasion would have provided alibis for any disfigurement to the game, yet Mayo and Fermanagh produced streaks of happy, quick play that suggested at times they were free of all burdens.

At their best, Mayo moved the ball quickly, looking for their spectacularly coiffured forwards, the bleached Conor Mortimer and the divine ponytail, Kieran McDonald. Neither man had a game for the scrapbooks and yet they produced the goods when it mattered. Mortimer had Mayo's last two points. McDonald hit the point of the day early in the second half just as Fermanagh stuck their noses in front.

The importance of that admonishment from the Crossmolina man can't be overstated. Just a few minutes earlier James Gill had been sent to the line having accrued his second yellow card in the space of four minutes.

Then Liam McBarron had burst through from midfield and, looking as if he might rampage on to score a goal, settled instead for stroking a point. Mayo needed McDonald's response badly.

As Charlie Mulgrew noted afterwards, Fermanagh never punched down the middle, preferring instead to string together great necklaces of passes as they worked the ball down the field and out towards the wings before tossing high kicks up as hostages to the elements.

The final minutes were almost a blur. Conor Mortimer filched a point from Fermanagh with three defenders looking at him in sheer surprise. Fermanagh needed the injection of calm from Stephen Maguire who popped over a free with three minutes left.

And then endgame. Bodies tossing themselves on the ball. The stadium breaking into waves of noise every time either team charged forward. Those wides. Some interceptions. Brave football and nervy football. The long whistle. Draw.

"We played with a lot of tension," said Liam McHale, the Mayo legend, afterwards. "Two young teams for the first time in a long time in the semi-final. We're delighted to be in this position to get a chance of playing again next Saturday. It's going to be difficult for Charlie Mulgrew and his men to bring it back up again. We're delighted to be coming back up here next weekend. We should not be in this position. Fermanagh let us off the hook."

Down the corridor Fermanagh were regrouping. They'd glimpsed a place of bees and honey. Hadn't reached it, but found out that they had what it takes to get there.

"Disappointing in a way," sighed Mulgrew. "In another way there's a slight bit of relief. Mayo could have won the game at the death. We lost our way when we went three points up but Mayo played great football for that period of time.

"Half-time we talked about the good things we'd done and the bad things we'd done and just tried to get rid of the bad. Both teams had opportunities. The team that mends the best for this week will come out winners next week."

Seconds out. Seconds back in. Let the mending begin.