The protocols of the lead-up to an All-Ireland final can seem strange, but are ultimately useful
President Michael D Higgins meets the Kerry team before the 2022 All-Ireland football final: some players prepare for the pre-match ritual more comprehensively than others. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Kieran gave a bullet-point list to Karl of dos and don’ts for All-Ireland week and how to manage them. It included things like, getting the suit fittings out of the way within the first two or three days. Get the media day over with in the first week. Do not handle any ticket requests: get someone in the family or a close friend to do that for you, and if anyone approaches you at work or in the street, you say: “Chat to them, chat to them.
We fired ahead with our normal lives. There was a training camp in Johnstown House about two weeks out and we might have taken a half-day on the Friday. Very few would have taken time off in the lead-up to the final. In my own case, I was keen to keep things as normal as possible, as I had all season. If I wasn’t taking time off before, why would I be doing it now?
I’m making it sound like we had to live reclusive lives and to be almost rude to people, but there were specific occasions when we got out. A couple of weeks out, we had a fans’ day in Ballybofey one Saturday after a training session. If we had reservations about this, Jim McGuinness would spin it as a positive.
It sounds pedantic but you’re out on the field, warming up, meeting the President and parading for nearly a whole half of football before the half of football even starts. I remember practicing by meeting a pretend-President in an empty O’Donnell Park on a weekend day when the team went through the parade routine.
Sunday will be interesting. I think we have two teams who will back their own style of play rather than setting out to negate the opposition. They have both played eight times in the championship and are well-rehearsed in what they are doing.
Armagh-Gaa Galway-Gaa Michael-Murphy
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