THE MIDDLE THIRD:THE ATMOSPHERE around town on Sunday was exceptional and it was hard to imagine how good things might have been if the sun had been shining, as maybe the rain took from it a bit.

I bumped into John O’Gara, the great Roscommon footballer, and we briefly discussed Roscommon’s year. John was delighted and was hoping that they would build on their title win.

Seeing John reminded me of what a great gathering the All-Ireland final is and of what a good year it has been for football.

From the quarter-finals on we got good games and we had a few fine ones before that as well.

And we had teams such as Roscommon and Louth coming out and making a mark on the championship when we least expected them too. That gives hope to everybody and has me looking forward to next year already.

First thing to do as regards Sunday is to be as generous to Down as they were to Cork in defeat. I thought the gracious way they conducted themselves at the end of the game and afterwards just brought extra kudos to them in a season which has brought them so much credit.

Cork were the superior team on Sunday, but they made heavy weather of it. I thought in the first half when they came through for those two early goal chances and didn’t score they reverted back to their laborious, slow build-up and excessive passing. It was like car-crash TV for a while. They went back into themselves.

Ciarán Sheehan was an exception. For a young fella in his first senior All-Ireland final at just 19 years of age to have that sort of chance early on, it could make or break him. Probably with a bit of inexperience on that type of sod Ciarán chose to hop the ball and he let it get away from him.

That could have destroyed a lesser player, but he turned it around and gave a tour de force. When he went out to the half-forward line, some of the ball he gave in was excellent.

Aidan Walsh in the middle of the field had a huge game too. When you are good enough you are old enough.

I know it worked all year, but for Down it was a day to change something around with the game plan. Benny Coulter out on the wing was an example. Most of Down’s attacks start out on the number 12’s side of the field. Marty Clarke gets on the ball and picks out Benny or that space for Benny to run into.

Cork had that sussed out and it was noticeable that when Danny Hughes came in twice on the right-hand side he got big results.

Benny made one great catch in the first half and got a free out of it. He made another catch in the second half for his point. Those high balls. Down might have been better served if they had gone down that road and given him high ball nearer goal.

This was a first All-Ireland for this squad though. Down started off the season a long way back, they came through and reached the All-Ireland final and did their county proud. They never threw in the towel. They went on to the very end. There is a lot there to work with.

They will wonder though.

Cork’s self-belief was shaky. They went back into their shell for much of the first half and when they went three points ahead in the second half I just thought the killer instinct wasn’t there in them. They let Down back to within a point and it was criminal that for the last few minutes Cork were in a position where they could have lost a game that they had so much possession in.

They needed to have a little more confidence about just converting the possession. It was hard to watch sometimes. They were better than they knew.

I thought for instance that Donncha O’Connor had Dan Gordon in trouble from early on, but they didn’t send the ball in for him to work with.

When they were really dominant in the middle they could have made more of it. You look at the two-kick move against Dublin that brought them the penalty. I thought on Sunday they would have killed the game earlier if they had gone with the long ball.

Strong points for Cork? Well how much strength they have. Kalum King was coming to the end of a very big season and it was interesting to see the difference Cork’s firepower on the bench made. King hung in there through the first half, but when Nicholas Murphy was sent in, he just mopped up. King must have thought, “what next?”.

Nicholas was more direct with the ball. When he was passing he wanted it to be a pass forward. The directness of his play made a difference.

Graham Canty came in and settled them down when they needed it. His contribution was to be there, and to give them his presence and to do nothing wrong. He kept it calm.

I looked at the game afterwards and, when I studied it again, Michael Shields and Noel O’Leary did good work on keeping Benny Coulter and Marty Clarke quiet. Cork got those match-ups right.

They won the championship in the end in a not very convincing fashion, but we’d all want to be in Cork’s shoes this morning.

They played better football last year, far more clinical and aggressive and entertaining, but they felt that when it came down to things they were too exposed and left themselves open for scores. They had better fighting qualities this year.

Cork won’t care anyway. When the final whistle blows on the season it’s the time for the idle talk to begin seriously and Cork will listen to all us windbags and say, “talk away there boys”.

And they are right. They have the cup. Nothing else matters.

For me, Cork were the team of the year despite themselves.

And the footballer of the year? It was good to have a few contenders. Paul Galvin, if he could have stayed on the pitch more, gave the best and most influential performances. Beyond that, coming into the final, Marty Clarke, Benny Coulter and Bernard Brogan were in there with a shout as was Michael Shields. I would make mention of Nicholas Murphy. Not enough football to be in the same bracket, as Cork used him a certain role.

At the end of the day most people would go for Bernard Brogan and he hardy put a foot wrong, but for me it would be Marty Clarke.

The best game I saw, and there is a bias here, was the second half between Cork and Kerry in the game that went to extra-time in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. After that there is a case for the Dublin-Cork game in the semi-final. The final was exciting.

Biggest disappointment of the year for me was the way Kerry ended up. We didn’t perform against Down for a combination of reasons, missing players or whatever, but the overall performance was disappointing having won the Munster title.

Overall it was a fantastic championship. If I had to put €100 down now on who will win next year I would go for Cork. They will have no retirements and they will grow.

I always point to Tommy Dowd who just kept getting better and better after his first All-Ireland with Meath. I think that will happen to a lot of Cork players. Their more experienced players aren’t too old and they have good young players coming through.

Walking up to Croke Park, I was amazed again at the resource- fulness of the Dub. For a tenner you could buy a radio so you could hear Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh’s last commentary.

I was upstairs at a reception (02 were fine hosts for us and great sponsors for the team of the championship.) Enda Lynch of Kerry and Catherine from Galway were our hosts. For the last five minutes of the football Enda went out the back so he could listen to Mícheál one last time. What a tribute to Mícheál. Enda could watch the final minutes of the game live and in comfort, but he wanted to back out to the stand to hear the last minutes of Míchéal’s commentary.

Either that or, being a Kerry man, Enda didn’t want to see Cork winning! (That’s just a joke to bow out on btw!)