Last Sunday, Mayo showed the way forward for modern Gaelic football, and that method is commitment all over the field.High pressing and dogged tackling in defence. Pace, bravery and taking on shots from outside the arc in attack. All the values Andy Moran has espoused came together brilliantly in one of the most emotional sporting occasions in GAA history.There weren’t too many clues that this final performance was on its way; after all, it seemed like anyone with a platform was tipping against them in advance of last Sunday’s final. Maybe part of the reason for that was how Mayo bucked a few statistical trends on their way to the All-Ireland.The most obvious aspect of Mayo’s attacking performance was their determination to kick from distance. The final would have finished level if there were no two-point arc in play and all scores over the bar were worth just a single point. Obviously, that change would create a huge amount of tactical knock-on effects, but the statistic gives us a good insight into the value of being able to kick two-pointers more often than an opponent. The number of matches where the final result would have been changed by the removal of two-point shooting is surprisingly low under the new rules; just nine out of 110 games in the last two years. The team most involved in those nine games? Mayo.Perhaps they took lessons from 2025, where they were knocked out in the All-Ireland group stages with a one-point defeat to Donegal, having shot zero two-pointers in the decider compared to their opponent’s two.Mayo manager Andy Moran celebrates with Bob Tuohy after the All-Ireland final in Croke Park.