Some man for one man.
Colm Boyle surely earned one of the most non-debatable man-of-the-match award of all time with his display against Kerry in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final.
Stephen Rochford’s use of the fiery Mayo defender has divided many opinions in the build-up to this game, but his early withdrawals appear to only make him hungrier for the time he spends on the pitch.
Boyle is a dog. He is a warrior, and he is a true epitome of this Mayo team.
The Davitts club man is a ball of confrontational fire on the field of play, and you just know by watching him that he hates being called ashore, and on Sunday it looked like he had given Stephen Rochford no option to take him off.
He wasn’t running out of steam, he was firing into every tackle and every Mayo attack with ferocious vigour and intensity.
A knock he received late on in the game forced his substitution, but Mayo supporters will be delighted to know that he has declared himself ready for the final in a post-match interview with RTÉ.
https://twitter.com/TheSundayGame/status/901474029088915456
The Mayo man is tigerish in defence, and equally so in attack. It’s sometimes hard to distinguish between him and teammate Keith Higgins, because of their shared explosiveness in attack, as the two men with the white boots maraud up field with vigour and intensity.
Boyle’s spirit, his heart and his courage was never better encapsulated than when he threw his body on the line to block a goal bound Kerry shot.
Not only did he block the powerful shot, he somehow managed to catch it too.
Here we can see Boyler sensing the danger, as he darted back to cover the gaping goal.
The Kerry attacker thought he just had to slot it home.
Not on Colm Boyle’s watch.
Body on the line, but he caught the ball and took it out over the end line with him.
HOW on earth did he hold on to that?
This block was just typical of Mayo’s spirit on a day when they out-muscled and truly outfought a Kerry team that had no answers.
Dublin or Tyrone, bring it on.
