WHO KNEW? A stale football year ended in Croke Park yesterday with an invigorating tale of the unexpected. Tyrone, for decades the sleeping minnows of the game, came to town and against all odds seized their third All-Ireland title in six seasons.
Since their last win three years ago, Tyrone have been plagued by injuries and loss of form and their formula for football appeared to have passed its expiry date when they slumped out of the Ulster championship early in the summer.
Yet there they were yesterday painting the town red and white. Winding up the crowd. Half the team wearing thick black beards as befits their cherished role as bad guys of the game.
Their victims once again were Kerry, the perennial monarchs of football. Kerry came to Croke Park yesterday seeking to claim their third All-Ireland title in succession.
However, for the the third time this decade they found Tyrone's energetic and abrasive style of play too much to cope with.
Tyrone are now the official suppliers of ripping yarns and thrilling tales to the GAA.
Ever since their breakthrough year in 2003, Tyrone have made a habit of feigning their own demise and then rolling back the rock.
Having beaten Kerry along the road in 2003, they came back for another All-Ireland two years later beating Kerry in the final this time.
This summer, as many of their players were keen to remind the media yesterday, they were written off entirely having succumbed to Down in the first round of the Ulster championship.
Having been consigned to the scrapheap they found themselves yesterday answering questions about their standing in modern football history. "Tyrone are the team of the decade." said Brian McGuigan, from the vantage point of being a scion of a great Tyrone footballing family.
"There is no doubt about it I think. Does that answer your question?"
Kerry with one more All-Ireland this decade, but now three championship defeats to Tyrone, will have to yield somewhat to Tyrone's claims. After two Septembers when the All-Ireland series finished in a blowout win for Kerry, yesterday's final was a welcome return to days of drama and edge-of-the-seat excitement.
Kerry led by a point at half-time but got sucker punched for a goal immediately after the break. They recovered somewhat, but spent themselves in doing so.
Tyrone just kept throwing in fresh legs and experienced heads. Kerry ran out of ideas.
"I see life as an experiment," said Tyrone's serene and unflappable manager Mickey Harte afterwards. "When you win, you don't do everything right and when you lose, you don't do everything wrong, but we did enough right today to get by."
Four points separated the sides at the end of a helter-skelter game. If Mickey Harte ever does everything right on a big day in Croke Park the possibilities are frightening.