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1973 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final
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Football match
June 2017
1973 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final 1973 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final programme.jpg 250 1973 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Cork 40px 3–17(26) Galway 40px 2–13(19) 23 September 1973 Croke Park Dublin John Moloney 73,308 1972 1974
The 1973 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was a Gaelic football match played at Croke Park on 23 September 1973 to determine the winners of the 1973 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the 87th season of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, a tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association for the champions of the four provinces of Ireland. The final was contested by Galway of Connacht and Cork of Munster, with Cork winning by 3–17 to 2–13.
Cork's All-Ireland victory was their first since 1945. The win gave them their fourth All-Ireland title over all and put them joint sixth on the all-time roll of honour along with Kildare and Tipperary. The game, which remains the highest scoring All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final in history, also marked the emergence of a nineteen-year-old Jimmy Barry-Murphy onto the national stage. Barry-Murphy finished the game with 2–1 (seven points).
Galway's All-Ireland defeat was their second as part of a hat-trick of All-Ireland defeats between 1971 and 1974.
Writers such as John D. Hickey and Martin Breheny have praised the manner in which the game was played.
Match
This year's final was played on 23 September.https://www.gaa.ie/api/pdfs/image/upload/t8bphnbixyanijooj1un.pdfbook The Complete Handbook of GAELIC GAMES 2021 DBA 152July 2026 InternetArchiveBot
Summary
The game was expected to be an open affair and so it proved, with Cork taking the initiative early on. Dinny Long's centre was punched against the crossbar by Jimmy Barrett; however, 19-year-old Jimmy Barry-Murphy was alert to the rebound and pounced for a well-taken goal after just two minutes. With their confidence boosted, the Cork forwards settled quickly and scores came freely. At the other end of the field, Cork's John Coleman curbed the threat of Galway captain and centre-forward Liam Sammon. Cork led at the interval by 1–10 to 0–6.November 2023
The second half produced the unusually high tally of 4–14 with each side landing 2–7. Cork were slow to find the target after the interval; however, once Dinny Long scored a difficult free from under the Hogan Stand and Ray Cummins followed suit from the other side they appeared to be coasting to victory. A Galway revival saw them cut the margin to just three points when Tom Naughton scored a goal, but Cork's response was controlled and efficient. Ray Cummins steadied Cork with three points in quick succession before setting up Jimmy Barry-Murphy for the clinching goal. Johnny Hughes pulled one back for the men from the West; however, it was as close as they got and the Leesiders closed out the contest with their third goal, scored by Jimmy Barrett.http://www.millstreet.ie/blog/2010/10/21/all-ireland-football-final-1973 Gallant Galway meet a Better Team Galway Advertiser 27 September 1973 5 August 2015
The 1973 All-Ireland decider holds the record as the final which produced the highest cumulative score with 5–30 (i.e. 45 points). At the time, Cork's tally of 3–17 was the highest in a final; however, Dublin bettered this by one point four years later when they recorded 5–12 against Armagh. Galway's tally of 2–13 remains the highest by a losing finalist.Martin Breheny Martin Breheny http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/1973-barrymurphy-on-the-double-26681387.html 1973: Barry-Murphy on the double Irish Independent 17 September 2010 5 August 2015
Due to the similarity of the colour of their jerseys a change was necessary. This was done in a bid to aid television viewers who may have been watching in black and white. A coin toss decided that Cork would wear a reversal of their usual jerseys. To help prepare for the All-Ireland final, Cork trained in the jerseys of Tyrone, whom they had beaten in the All-Ireland semi-final.http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/gaa/when-boys-of-73-served-up-a-treat-99179.html When boys of ’73 served up a treat Irish Examiner 21 August 2009 5 August 2015
Details
23 September 1973 15:15 IST Galway 20px|border 2-13 - 3-17 20px|border Cork M Hughes 0-7, T Naughton 1-0, J Hughes 1-0, M Burke 0-2, J Duggan 0-2, TJ Gilmore 0-1, L Sammon 0-1. R Cummins 0-8, J Barry-Murphy 2-1, J Barrett 1-2, D Long 0-3, E Kirby 0-1, D Coughlan 0-1, D Barron 0-1. Croke Park, Dublin 73,308 John Moloney (Tipperary)
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Cork
GK 1 Gay MitchellRCB 2 Joe WaldronFB 3 Jack CosgroveLCB 4 Brendan ColleranRWB 5 Liam O'NeillCB 6 Tommy Joe GilmoreLWB 7 Johnny HughesM 8 Willie JoyceM 9 Jimmy DugganRWF 10 Maurice BurkeCF 11 Liam Sammon (c)LWF 12 Michael RooneyRCF 13 Johnny CoughlanFF 14 Tom NaughtonLCF 15 Morgan HughesSubstitutes:RCF Frank CanavanRWF Colie McDonaghCoach:John "Tull" Dunne GK 1 Billy Morgan (c)RCB 2 Frank CoganFB 3 Humphrey Kelleher ?LCB 4 Brian MurphyRWB 5 Kevin Jer O'SullivanCB 6 John Coleman ?LWB 7 Con HartnettM 8 Dinny LongM 9 Denis CoughlanRWF 10 Ned KirbyCF 11 Declan BarronLWF 12 Dave McCarthy ?RCF 13 Jimmy Barry-MurphyFF 14 Ray CumminsLCF 15 Jimmy BarrettSubstitutes:FB 16 Mick Scannell ? 17 Robert WilmotLWF 18 Donal Hunt ?CB 19 Séamus Coughlan ? 20 Teddy O'Brien 21 Noel MurphyCoach:Donie O'Donovan
MATCH RULES
80 minutes.
Replay if scores level.
Three substitutes allowed.
Post-match
It would be another quarter of a century before Galway won another All-Ireland, doing so in 1998. Before that they would appear in the finals of 1974 and 1983. Cork had to wait sixteen years to win another All-Ireland title, doing so in 1989.
John D. Hickey, writing afterwards in the Irish Independent, described it as "one of the most honest and most wholesome games I have seen". In 2018, Martin Breheny listed this as the sixth greatest All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, describing it as a game "played in a wonderful spirit, with open, attacking football the priority for both teams" and noting that it marked the emergence of a nineteen-year-old Jimmy Barry-Murphy onto the national stage; this was Barry-Murphy's only All-Ireland football title - the rest were in hurling.Breheny, Martin. "Martin Breheny's Greatest All-Ireland Finals". Irish Independent. 1 September 2018, p. 10.
References
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, 1973
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals
Category:All-Ireland Senior Football Championship finals
Category:GAA finals at Croke Park
Category:Cork county football team matches
Category:Galway county football team matches