Cork supporters leave Rebels Fanzone dejected but having witnessed a final for the ages

Beside the big screen in the Páirc Uí Chaoimh Rebels FanZone, three small boys in Cork jerseys lay face down in the sopping grass as the heartbroken crowd dispersed around them.

“God love them, they’ll definitely need therapy after that, the craythurs,” said one woman, looking fairly desolate herself.

A point had been all that was in it in the end after a game where both sides had seemed equally matched throughout, but it wasn’t to be the Rebels’ day, and Liam MacCarthy has gone to the Banner County.

That late jersey pull rankled, and the consensus opinion as fans headed for the exits, with soaking Cork flags draped across their shoulders was: “That definitely should have been a free,” but sure what can you do?

It was a match for the ages, and if the point of the Rebels FanZone had been that people could enjoy the game in a family-friendly, alcohol-free community setting, then it was a resounding success.

Children definitely outnumbered the adults, and most over the age of five or so were glued to the match, while the smaller smallies ran around and had fun, or were bored, or varied between the two extremes.

The crowd numbers weren’t what had been expected, and with an estimated 8,000 people in Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday afternoon, more than half of those who got tickets didn’t attend, but in the end, what about it? Those who were there will remember the day for the rest of their lives.

Level at half-time. Level at full time. Level at half-time of extra time.

Marty Morrissey (his father was from Clare, his mother from Mallow, both of them hurling strongholds, to paraphrase the late Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh) was beside himself in the RTÉ commentary. “The most dramatic, most exhilarating, most heart-stopping All-Ireland of all time,” he said, and it was hard not to allow him the hyperbole.

For most of the second half in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, and for all of extra time, fans held their hands over their eyes, over their mouths, on their heads. The tension was almost unbearable at times, punctuated only by screams and cheers as the tide of play turned over and back again and again.

One woman had her hands clasped in apparent prayer for most of the match, breaking only to punch the air when Cork scored.

In the end, it was 3:29 to 1:34, with Clare winning by a single point.

The crowd left Páirc Uí Chaoimh dejected, miserable in the drizzle that never quite lifted from the second half onward, but nobody could say they hadn’t seen an incredible match, one where both sides had played their hearts out.

That definitely should have been a free, though.