A good year with more on offer in 2009 It was another really exciting year for championship football. All three grades produced an excellent standard of football and Tyrone emerged as the big winners taking the minor and senior cups home to the north. Kerry slipped the under 21 crown into their shopping basket but their year will Kerry will focus more on what was lost than what was won. Two counties kept all the cups to themselves! Tyrone's senior victory was a major surprise given their early season form. Their appetite seemed to be the biggest problem and as ever they were finding it hard to get their best team out on the field due to injuries. The early exit at the hands of Down looked like the final fling for a team that has written a new football history in Tyrone. But once they got back on their feet they went about restoring their reputation and in some style. The annihilation of Dublin in the quarter final was possibly the display of the year and from there a final appearance was always going to happen. It was a marvellous final graced by as good an individual performance from Sean Cavanagh as ever was seen in HQ. The Tyrone goal was a little fortuitous but the pressure being applied at that stage was always going to yield scores. And once they got their noses in front, the hunger and commitment shown to close out the deal was frightening. They won it the hard way, their second 'back-door' championship and must now be considered as one of the great teams in modern times. Certainly the season ahead will be a very hard fought one as Kerry will want to match up with the new champions at the earliest opportunity. We called this year's final the decider in terms of the title for team of the decade but perhaps 2009 will provide conclusive evidence. The minor championships this year provided top class fare throughout. I watched a couple of the earlier rounds in Ulster, Leinster and Connacht and the skill levels on display are very heartening for the association and will surely provide footballers of real merit in the years to come. My own county Mayo faced off with the favourites Tyrone and gave us two splendid matches before the replay produced a winner. One of the most disappointing aspects of the football season provided part of the story line for that final. Tyrone's young star forward and Man-of-the-Match, Kyle Coney, played his final game in a Tyrone shirt before signing a contract to play Australian Rules. Within weeks he was Down Under and yet another starlet was lost to this growth industry. It is a development that has continued to occupy the minds of county officials throughout the country and indeed the top men in Croke Park. There is an underlying problem: you cannot stop young lads making decisions about their sporting careers and if Tyrone has been one of the counties to take a hit this year and others, there are many other counties reflecting on the loss of some of their best footballers too. The strategy in terms of managing the problem appears to be based on maintaining contact with the AFL and that alignment is also part of the International Rules Series which passed off without incident a few weeks ago. There is little doubt the series, resurrected after a two year hiatus, was on a yellow card and the officials in charge had the red in their hand. Any repeat of the indiscipline of 2006 in Ireland would spell the end, the absolute end, of the series. Happily, the games were played in an atmosphere of sportsmanship and if Ireland won out in the two game arrangement, that really was not the important aspect. It all means we have a series as part of the GAA's 125 year celebrations which will kick off in early 2009 with the floodlit NFL opener of Dublin v Tyrone and last throughout the year. And that year is about to stretch out before us. These days it seems there is hardly a break at all after the All Irelands are played and before the leagues throw-in. The club series kick into action, the International Rules crank up and the draws for the following years championships take place. Only last week the playing calendar for the new season was issued and so mangers and players are going about their plans and preparations for the New Year. Of course they must do so without the benefit of collective season, banned for the months of November and December and it must be said, rightly so too. Enough is enough and if newly appointed managers will be at a slight disadvantage, this time next year it will be some other manger's turn! The draws for the four provincial championships produced the usual amount of oohs and aahs when held in Croke Park last October. The big news to emerge included the meetings of Tyrone and Armagh in Ulster and Dublin versus Meath in Leinster. And of course, Cork and Kerry came out on the same side of the draw down south which means essentially, only one of the two can make the final. The Qualifier Series is now a proven road to success-the 2008 final featured two teams that came through on this route, and so these blockbuster draws are unlikely to be season changing events. How you react to a defeat in the opening rounds will decide the type of year your team has but before we get to that stage, we have three months of the leagues to look forward to. As I mentioned at the top of this piece, 2009 is shaping up as one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory. Tweet

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