Karma came back to bite him a little bit…but not too much.
He went down like a sack of spuds, holding his face in the first half after Peter Harte had barely brushed off his chin. He was sent off in the second.
And you can’t blame Peter Harte for picking him up like a rag doll in frustration at that reaction. Because there’s nothing more sickening than when the lad who you’ve been battling honestly, hardly and fairly with for half an hour goes down holding his face when there’s nothing really wrong with him.
Prior to that they’d been hitting each other hard, both of them had been dishing it out and both of them had been taking it too.
John Small and Peter Harte went at it for the first 30 minutes. Just like they’d done up in Omagh earlier in the year when Small came in as a late replacement and positioned himself in Peter Harte’s shorts for the next hour and 15 minutes flat.
Hard but fair. Harte won a few balls, Small won others. This was tough stuff, tough manly stuff.
Just like that whole first half in Croke Park. Tiernan McCann laid down a marker early on when he rattled into Ciaran Kilkenny just after he’d put Tyrone 0-3 to 0-1 up after five minutes.
And Mickey Harte’s men were revelling on the biggest stage of all right then. For the first 17 minutes, they were bombing up and down the field, horsing into Dublin jerseys, growing into the occasion. Dublin were a little bit rattled.
But maybe Tyrone, and maybe Tiernan McCann were too up for it. He dived straight into Paul Mannion’s knee after 19 minutes to give away a penalty.
Paul Mannion is fouled and blasts the penalty to the net himself to give Dublin the lead – Highlights on The Sunday Game tonight, 9.30pm @RTE2 #DUBvTYR #GAA pic.twitter.com/b4eRGNaPHx
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) September 2, 2018
That man Mannion rocketed it into the top right, Dublin’s ship steady now.
And then the Dubs took off, in raging hot pursuit of their fourth Sam Maguire in a row.
Tyrone began to stutter, they struggled, Dublin took over. Dean Rock was dangerous inside, Brian Howard was coming into it in front of him. Paul Mannion was back dispossessing lads in his own full back line and Brian Fenton was doing what Brian Fenton does.
Niall Scully palmed in a second green flag and this game really was all over bar the shouting.
And then just on the stroke of half-time, John Small was panned out on the Croke Park turf, holding his head as if he’d just been punched square in the jaw.
It looked more like Harte had just brushed off his chin.
You couldn’t blame Peter Harte for being cross at that.
Thankfully, Small hadn’t pulled the wool over the referee’s eyes.
And in the second half, he got his comeuppance when he was sent off late-on for a late, over the top tackle on that very man Peter Harte. That led to him earning the unwanted label of becoming the first man to have been sent off in two All-Ireland finals in succession – He was also sent for an early shower against Mayo last year after a collision with Donie Vaughan.
He was also sent off in the Leinster final this year as well. In fairness, it won’t matter to him too much because he is an All-Ireland champion for a fourth successive year, but it’s not the best example to be setting.
