The History of Gaelic Football

1894 Dublin v Cork

The first draw in an All-Ireland final came two centuries ago and a number of differences highlight the fact that it was very much a different world. The Dublin and Cork sides who met that year were in fact club sides. Young Irelands were the Leinster representatives while Nils of Cork had come through Munster. No teams had entered from Ulster or Connacht and the match ended in a draw, the scores being 1-1 to Cork and 0-6 to the Dubs.

A draw? In that era, one goal was the equivalent of five points. The referee had decided on 30 minutes of extra time but Cork refused. The replay was played in Thurles and with minutes remaining a pitch invasion stopped proceedings with the Munster men two points to the good. Cork refused to continue and the title was awarded to Dublin.

1914 Kerry v Wexford

This was to be the first of many that would involve the Kingdom. They were up against a Wexford side on the crest of greatness but this would prove to be Kerry's year, but their last for ten years. Wexford were clearly the better team on the first day. The game was played in a gloomy Croke Park at the start of November, but Kerry came back from a five point half-time deficit to keep the Slaneysiders scoreless in the second period. The replay was eerily similar four weeks later with Wexford sprinting from the blocks to build up a formidable first half lead only for the Kingdom to again storm through the second-half with Wexford failing to register a single effort.

1926 Kerry v Kildare

1924 saw Kerry facing Kildare who had emerged from Leinster after seven years in the shade. Hopes were pinned on a classic prior to the game and the fans were not to be disappointed on either day, as the two teams battled it out and playing fine football in the process. Kerry would emerge the winners but the victory would ring hollow for the county as their best player on the first day, Jack Murphy fell ill and died soon after the game.

1937 Kerry v Cavan

This game saw the meeting of two sides who were delighted to scrape through the semi-finals. Kerry had just about edged out an unfortunate Laois side while Cavan had beaten Mayo by the slightest margin possible. The final itself was a tight affair with a draw the first day a fair result, the score showing Cavan 2-5 to Kerry's 1-8. Kerry had obviously spotted gaps the first day as they took the Cavan defence apart scoring four goals on the way to a six-point victory.

1938 Galway v Kerry

The first of two such meetings between Galway and Kerry at the final stage, Kerry had just about beaten Laois for the second year in a row while Galway overcame the challenge of Roscommon by seven points. Kerry were perceived as being the side with the pedigree but Galway had their own lustre, having been champions in '25 and '34. Just as it would be 64 years later, the first game would be remembered for the brilliance of the football. The game, played before a record crowd of almost 69,000, was clouded in controversy as the referee blew for full time just as a 'fifty' from John Joe Landers was sailing over the Galway bar. The point was disallowed and the teams met again for another amazing finale.

With Galway leading by two points, a free was rewarded only for fans to rush onto the pitch thinking the final whistle had gone. By the time the remaining minutes could be played out, Kerry were reduced to playing substitutes, as some of their players could not be found once order was restored. Galway held out to win their third title by three points.

1943 Roscommon v Cavan

Roscommon had not come through in Connacht since 1915 but their emergence was no surprise to those who had witnessed their minor and junior teams in the preceding years.
Cavan were in search of their third title but it was the men from the west who were left ruing the scoreline after the draw in front of almost 70,000 people. The second game was no advert for the ancient game and indeed, had the same events occurred today, the Association would be under fire from all angles.

The game was a physical affair with Roscommon's Joe Stafford leaving the field early due to a particularly physical altercation with a Cavan defender. With Cavan five points behind one of their players assaulted the referee Paddy Mythen, after which a pitch invasion saw a premature end to the match, with Roscommon the victors by five points.

1946 Kerry v Roscommon

Again Kerry were destined to contest a drawn All-Ireland final and on this occasion it was against a Roscommon team which still contained many of the players who had figured so prominently in their two-in-a-row earlier in the decade. The Connacht side had narrowly defeated Laois in the semi-final, while Kerry had seen off the challenge of Antrim by three points a week earlier. T

he final was delayed until the 6th October due to the unusually wet year which saw the harvest being brought in by volunteers after a Government public plea for help. The game saw Roscommon keep the Kingdom at arms' length for much of the afternoon and with only minutes remaining there was a six point gap in favour of the western county. Only goals from Kerry full-forward Paddy Burke and Tom O'Connor were enough to save the day. It was perhaps inevitable when the teams met again three weeks later that Kerry should have the wind in their sails after rising from the dead. This time neither side could shake off a dogged opponent and it took a late spree from Kerry, when they notched a goal and a point, to seal the result.

1952 Cavan v Meath

Meath had been the only side to retain their provincial championship in '52 while Cavan had succeeded Antrim in Ulster. The first game saw the two teams deliver an exciting game despite the gloomy, wet and blustery conditions surrounding Croke Park. An Edwin Carolan point in the dying moments gave Cavan a second bite at the cherry. The second encounter was a disappointment and the fact that neither team scored a goal in the final for the first time since 1927 reflected the fare on offer. Cavan ran out four point winners (0-9 to 0-5) to give the county their fifth All-Ireland.

1972 Offaly v Kerry

At first glance the meeting of Offaly and Kerry in the '72 decider may look a little unbalanced. However the Faithful were the reigning All-Ireland champions and they were also the only side to retain their provincial title in '72. The two sides had met in the final only three years previously when Kerry had won by three points. The first game ended in a draw, (1-13 to 1-13), but the standard of football left a bit to be desired.

The second game soon wiped out that memory as Offaly battled gamely against a strong first half wind to leave the pitch on level terms. If things looked bad for Kerry supporters at that point, then they were totally unprepared for the humiliation to follow, as Offaly heaped miseries on the Kingdom such as they had never experienced in an All-Ireland final. The final score read Offaly 1-19, Kerry 0-13. Offaly were simply a different class with their full back line of Mick Ryan, Paddy McCormack and Larry Coughlan dominating their opponents all day. The performance of the day, if not the year, went to the captain Tony McTague who finished the game with a personal tall of ten points.

1988 Meath v Cork

In the year of Dublin's millennium it is ironic that two of the county's fiercest rivals should travel to the capital to do battle for the Sam Maguire. Meath and Cork were emerging as two of the dominant forces in gaelic football and this encounter would not be the last between the two rivals.

In a physical encounter it was Meath who left the field counting their blessings and so the replay would be the third meeting of the two in the All-Ireland final in thirteen months, after Meath had won in the '87 final. The game began in highly controversial fashion as Meath's dynamic midfielder Gerry McEntee was sent off with only minutes on the clock. Yet, as is the case so often, the 14 men found the extra motivation to dig deep and frustrate their opponents. In another tight and hard-fought seventy minutes Meath eventually edge it by 13 points to 12.

1996 Meath v Mayo

1996 is generally remembered, rightly or wrongly, as the year that Mayo threw it away. Connacht had not seen a champion crowned at Croke Park since Galway in 1966 and after such a barren spell it looked as though Mayo would bridge the yawning gap. Mayo favoured the short passing game whereas Meath were a more direct side. The contrast promised an intriguing game.

To say Mayo dominated the first game would be a severe understatement. Time and again the westerners approached the Meath goal only to be stymied by the Royal back line. Nevertheless such pressure began to tell and with ten minutes remaining Mayo held a ten point lead. As has happened so often in the past Meath reacted to such adversity with their indomitable spirit and at the final whistle Mayo fans did not know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. Few will forget the unlikely last Meath point as Colm Coyle hoisted a ball towards the Mayo goal, only to see it bounce on the edge of the parallelogram before looping over the crossbar. On such moments are titles won and lost from time to time.

The replay will be recalled in most minds as the day that a huge brawl broke out under the railway end of the ground. The net result was the dismissal of Mayo's hugely influential Liam McHale and Meath's saviour the first day Colm Coyle. While the Royal would miss their classy defender there is little doubt that the loss of McHale to Mayo was a bigger body blow. The basketball star had been named man of the match in the drawn game. As play resumed there were over sixty minutes left to play in which the Connacht champions led for much of it. With five to go it was still neck to neck and it was only a Brendan O'Reilly point that sealed the win at the very death for the Royal by the bare minimum