When Aodhan MacGearailt finally found his range after a number of wides, it seemed to lift a weight from all the Kerry forwards who suddenly clicked into gear. Fitzy came into midfield, and with the traffic increasingly all one way, Kerry coasted to victory in the end. As captain marvel, Seamus Moynihan, lifted the cup on a surreally bare pitch, no grumbles came from gracious Galway about the defeat. And so descended the curtain on another season. The NFL was just around the corner and would have to sate our appetites over the winter.
Next year brings the wind of change through the football championship.
Ties like Kerry v Dublin, Meath v Derry or even Carlow v New York, are all possible now, without any of them winning their provincial championship. It could be very tasty next year. After two All-Ireland losses in a row, all eyes were on Kilkenny in 2000. It would prove to be the two teams which beat them in 1998 and 1999, Offaly and Cork respectively, who emerged as the main contenders to Kilkenny's first All-Ireland hurling championship win since 1993. In the end Kilkenny won at a trot.