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In the second of a new series, RTÉ GAA commentator Darragh Maloney recalls the best GAA games he has attended. This time it’s Owen Mulligan’s tour de force against Dublin in 2005.
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There is only one place where you can start this game and that is the goal!
I met Owen Mulligan at the All-Stars dinner in the fall of 2005 at the Citywest Hotel and I remember thanking him for the goal, as I was fortunate enough to describe him alongside Martin Carney. I’m not sure if Owen knew who I was, but at least I could tell.
That lens is always remembered as the legendary Eugene McGee described it in the Irish Independent the following Monday, as “one of the greatest lenses of all time” and Eugene would certainly know what he was looking at!
What is often forgotten is that the game itself was a cookie with two teams, at the peak of their powers, who only tried for 70 minutes. Dublin, under Paul Caffrey, were Leinster champions, while Tyrone had lost the Ulster final after a repeat at Croke Park, to his old friends at Armagh. It was always going to be difficult, but the 2003 champions had taken that loss out of their systems with a qualifying round win over Monaghan.
Owen Mulligan’s name didn’t figure much in game preparation, but we always knew how talented he was and the fact that the amazing Peter Canavan had taught him at school! He was part of the ’03 All-Ireland winning team and had burst onto the scene with a Ulster Championship goal in one minute against Down. But Owen was on a team that included Peter Canavan, Stephen O’Neill, Brian McGuigan, Brian Dooher, and Sean Cavanagh, so there was a big battle for the main act. That was until August 13, 2005.
DAY THE CLEAR CRYED RECEIVED PRAYERS OF THE FAITHFUL
Dublin had been playing great soccer with Pillar that year. They were squeezed by Laois for a point in the Leinster final and continued their search for a first Sam Maguire in 10 years when they beat Tyrone in the final.
Alan Brogan, Conal Keaney, Mossy Quinn, and Ciaran Whelan were in outstanding form and had developed this habit of getting out of blocks very quickly and building a healthy lead.
Dublin had a five point lead at halftime after a Mossy Quinn goal right on the coup and they were well placed to reserve a place in the last four. Tyrone made some modifications to his team at halftime and scored the first point of the second half through Sean Cavanagh.
They were still losing by three points in the 49th minute and were in some difficulty. Dublin seemed to have their number, but the time came when this game changed and arguably it changed the year and led to Tyrone’s second Ireland title.
Dublin was actually on the attack in the 49th minute, but the movement was broken and the ball was played in the middle of the field where a Dublin player had a chance to claim possession but was pressured and ran towards Stephen O’Neill. He passed it to Mulligan, who claimed it against Dublin fullback Paddy Christie near the 45-meter line and the next few seconds would define a race that ended with three senior medals from across Ireland.
Nothing had gone well for Mulligan up to that point. If you look at the game again, you’ll see his passes go wrong and in Laochra Gael for TG4, substitute Peter Canavan says that Tyrone’s manager Mickey Harte was about to take out Mulligan. Canavan argued that he always had a good relationship with his former student and that “Peter The Great” entered the game just before the goal was scored, but did not participate in it. It was all Owen Mulligan.
His ball is played and I told him in a comment that Tyrone needed a score because they had three fewer points at the time. He takes the ball and then we see that rhythm and the deception. Mulligan made two pass dummies and then ends up facing Dublin goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton. The rest is history and the game is level and a star is born.
Those moments rightly outshine the rest of the game, which was excellent. We had bright spots from Alan Brogan, Brian McGuigan, Stephen O’Neill, Conal Keaney, Brian Dooher, and Mossy Quinn, who forced the replay with a 30-meter free kick, which was pretty much the last kick in the game.
We saw Ciaran Whelan rule the air with an incredible field, but that day was about a single player. Mulligan always stood out with her bleaching blonde hair, which was a tribute to English footballer Paul Gascoigne. I always think that the players who get attention with flashy boots or flashy hair should be very good and Mulligan did not disappoint them.
Mulligan was a starting act after that goal, but was even better on repeat. He scored 1-7 and his goal featured a celebration of “Eric Cantona-strutting” off Hill 16, which is almost as memorable as the strike in the first game.
He even had time to retrieve a stray dog.
Mullligan was at the peak of his powers in those weeks and was even able to get a stray dog out of the field during replay. It was as if everything he touched in August 2005 turned to gold, but that’s what happens when you are “Magic Magic Mulligan”.
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