1984 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
The 1984 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 97th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1984 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.
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Event | 1984 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship | ||||||
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Date | 23 September 1984 | ||||||
Venue | Croke Park, Dublin | ||||||
Referee | Paddy Collins (Westmeath) | ||||||
Attendance | 68,365 | ||||||
Pre-game
Dublin were considered hot favourites to defeat Kerry. Kerry had lost to Offaly on their last appearance at this stage in 1982 and had not made it past Cork in the 1983 final of the Munster Senior Football Championship.[1]
Match
Summary
Tom Spillane and Ger Lynch — assigned to mark Tommy Conroy and Barney Rock — began their efforts during the national anthem, which they sang with aplomb.[2] Spillane, quoted in the book Princes of Pigskin, said of this tactic later: "There was no belting but the plot was to sing the National Anthem as loud as we could into their ears to put the fear of God into them. Neither of us were great singers but they must have thought we were wired to the moon".[2]
Kerry controlled the game and won by five points, only two Dublin forwards scoring.[3] Dublin were well beaten (0–14 to 1–6). Kerry claimed great motivation for their victory came from a piece in the RTÉ Guide in which the team were referred to as "a cowardly blend of experienced players, has-beens and a few newcomers."[1]
It was the third of five All-Ireland football titles won by Kerry in the 1980s.[4]
References
- Breheny, Martin (17 September 2016). "Dubs train sights on Heffo's heroes: This Dublin team needs All-Ireland two-in-a-row to move ahead of trail-blazing 1970s side and seal their status as one of the greatest teams of all time". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
- Kissane, Sinéad (14 September 2019). "Tommy Walsh's return is the comeback story that looked like it might never happen". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 14 September 2019. The headline in the printed edition read: "From twin tower to supersub target man, Walsh is key to Kingdom dream".
- High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.
- "Kerry on honour roll". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.