If you ever needed your faith restored in this world, you could do a lot worse than take yourself along to a club final.
Look at how much it means to everyone involved. Look at how pure it is. How nothing else matters but a game of GAA.
People entranced, invested, hanging on every movement of a ball.
Injured county players breaking down, a brotherly embrace, an impossible dream realised.
VIDEO Brothers Kevin and Gary Keane emotionally embrace each other after the final whistle in Croke Park yesterday #mayogaa #gaa pic.twitter.com/LrC3eNqTiy
— Mayo News – Sport (@mayonewssport) February 20, 2017
A team heartbroken but losing together and facing the pain together. As a team.
Darran O’Sullivan, bruised and bandaged, running non-stop, refusing to come off. How the hell could he?
Hair-raising from @GlenbeighcarGAA's @Darransull86 https://t.co/0OX39gyOCH #TheToughest
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) February 19, 2017
Then, you look into the crowd.
You see it on their faces, you see how much it means. You look at the kids and it’s hard to believe that people so young can be so engaged with a game of football.
The All-Ireland intermediate club final was special. In the end, Westport hung on to bring the title back to Mayo for the first time with one point to spare. St. Colmcille’s of Meath were beaten but, God almighty, they fought until the very last.
Inches separated them from forcing a draw and, during those dying seconds of the game where the fate of everyone in the club hung in the balance and Colmcille’s went forward for one last go at it, photographer Brian Mulligan captured the tension spectacularly.
A group of kids in the Croke Park stand were a picture of love, passion and pure, unbridled support. They were a picture of everything that is good about the GAA.
Brian Mulligan of BrianMulligan.ie is a Colmcille’s man himself. On Sunday, he went along as a club man, not a photographer. But, sometimes, the perfect opportunity just presents itself.
This photo has everything.
The rosary beads.
The encouragement.
The nail-biting.
The fear.
The suspense.
The shock.
The attention.
The desperation.
You don’t choose your club, it chooses you.
