Paul Doyle, ladies and gentlemen.
Sometimes it’s hard to capture the essence of the GAA.
You can have so many superlatives for it, tell timeless stories, Irish stories, and you can talk all day about how it is like the centre of a universe that revolves around an O’Neill’s ball.
It wouldn’t say it as well as a photo could. Not this type of photo.
Photographer Paul Doyle clinched the #HuaweiSnapys GAA award with a simply stunning shot of Netwatch Cullen Park under lights with the town in comparative darkness behind.
If anything really summed up how a GAA match can make the world stop even for a few in attendance, this is the one.
It’s pure beauty. Aesthetically. Athletically. And the idea of it all – that, of all those houses in the background, all the way to the mountains in the distance and whatever’s behind them, for those 30 men on the pitch below, this is all that matters in that moment.
The GAA folk are a special breed and no amount of blood can convince them to come out of the battle on any given day.
@eoin_mcguigan Blood on the Bas, on the togs, the jersey, legs and hand – and he was annoyed at coming off – I think he's the gem! #Cutler pic.twitter.com/de3ciTK7Y4
— Mary K Burke (@MKBurke1) October 23, 2016
Sometimes they get a little carried away, head over heels you might say.
But they’re always looking out for each, they always have respect for each other. Respect for the game.
And Paul Doyle’s award-winning shot just takes us a little higher than those magical moments and captures them as part of the overall grand scheme of things.
Aaron Kernan joins Colm Parkinson on The GAA Hour to explain the work he’s doing for the Club Players Association. Derry captain Chrissy McKaigue talks Slaughtneil and a Dublin club advertising for hurlers gets a sore touch. Subscribe here on iTunes.
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