Madam, - Your overall coverage of the All-Ireland Football Final made fascinating reading but the niggardly reference to "bad boys" in Tom Humphries's front-page piece of September 22nd was needlessly negative.
I don't feel that Tyrone's "energetic and abrasive style" was the key factor in their victory. Despite all the talk about Tyrone's particular style of play, the fact is that they outplayed Kerry in many of the traditional skills of the game - creating space, ball control, kick-passing and kicking points. Certainly the main man kicking points in the style of Pat Spillane was not a Kerryman, but Seán Cavanagh.
Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, in his autobiography, suggests it is more important for a team to be fresh than fit. Tyrone seemed both fitter and fresher than Kerry.
Tom Humphries rightly highlights Mickey Harte's tactical astuteness. I would add another quality, claimed by the chief coach of the British cycling team as the hallmark of their management style and the key to their success in the Olympics: "compassionate ruthlessness".
You can seldom guarantee a classic in an All-Ireland final but it was certainly a game of epic proportions and, for the neutral, I am sure the game was the winner. - Yours, etc,
FRANK PARK,
Ruislip, Middlesex,
England.