Never to be forgotten.
Kerry’s All-Ireland semi-final replay victory over Mayo in 2014 went down in history as one of the most remarkable games of modern times.
First of all, the game didn’t take place in Croke Park, but instead in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick which drew the ire of both Mayo and Kerry supporters.
The game itself turned out to be a classic as the sides couldn’t be separated at the end of normal time with six goals and 22 points shared equally between them.
Eventually Kerry triumphed on a scoreline of 3-16 to 3-11 with refereeing controversy aplenty.
The sides will renew acquaintances on Sunday for the first time in the Championship since that famous day.
The GAA Hour was in Westport on Thursday night to look forward to the big game, but to look forward, they could only go back as the then Mayo manager James Horan and a Yew County substitute on that day, in Mickey Conroy, recalled the half-time scenes in Mayo’s dressing room after star players Cillian O’Connor and Aidan O’Shea collided heads.
The titanic collision just before half-time drew pools of blood from both and forced their temporary withdrawal from the game, and had a huge detrimental affect on a previously motoring Mayo side.
The team made their way into the sanctuary of the half-time dressing room with a three point lead, but it turned out to be quite the opposite.
It was mayhem.
“We had only one doctor, you know, and the two boys were absolutely pumping blood. He was trying to put out a fire here, with Aidan pumping blood first, and then Cillian was. He was like, ‘who am I going to go to first?'” recalled subtstitute Conroy.
“I got on for Aiden and I was like, ‘I’ll take it from here, he wasn’t playing well anyway,” lauughed Conroy.
Mayo manager James Horan’s team talk was obviously disrupted by the chaos, which resulted in the team’s logistics man acting as a stand-in doctor.
“The doc was stitching up one of them, and our logistics man was in holding down the other guy for the doc to run in and be able to stitch him up. You can imagine that scenario in an All-Ireland semi-final, crazy stuff.
“The clash definetely rocked us. We had subs coming on and off.
Stephen Rochford will be hoping such misfortune doesn’t befall his Mayo men on Sunday as they attempt to reach yet another All-Ireland final.
You can listen to the lads describing the madness here from 20″00′.
