1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

June 2018 April 2020 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final Programme.jpg 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Dublin 40px 0–9(9) Kerry 40px 5–11(26) 24 September 1978 Croke Park Dublin Séamus Aldridge (Kildare) 71,503 Drizzle 1977 1979 The 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 91st All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. This was one of six All-Ireland SFC finals contested by both Dublin and Kerry between 1974 and 1986, a period when one of either team always contested the decider.https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/marching-on-together-dublin-and-kerry-legends-will-reunite-to-remember-the-good-times-and-their-absent-friends/a766188048.html Marching on together Sunday Independent Dermot Crowe 30 March 2025 From 1974 to 1986, every final had Kerry or Dublin in it and in six of those they were the final pairing. They shared every All-Ireland going in that time save for Offaly's famous heist of 1982. Dublin had won the previous two finals and were bidding for a third consecutive victory. Kerry, their opponents, denied them to secure their own third from four All-Ireland football titles they won during the 1970s.http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/kerry-on-honour-roll-1885579.html Kerry on honour roll Irish Independent Independent News & Media 14 September 2009 14 September 2009 This was Kerry's first of four consecutive championships, setting them on the streak that inspired the five in a row that never occurred. In 2018, Martin Breheny listed this as the eighth greatest All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final.Breheny, Martin. "Martin Breheny's Greatest All-Ireland Finals". Irish Independent. 1 September 2018, p. 11. It is also noted for a famous first-half goal by Mikey Sheehy, with Sheehy lobbing the Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen while Cullen argued with referee Séamus Aldridge. Match This year's final was played on 24 September.https://www.gaa.ie/api/pdfs/image/upload/t8bphnbixyanijooj1un.pdfbook The Complete Handbook of GAELIC GAMES 2021 DBA 152July 2026 InternetArchiveBot Summary Dublin played the opening half towards the Railway End of Croke Park, that part of the stadium featuring Hill 16. Kerry played the first half towards the Canal End. Dublin dominated the opening third. Their goalkeeper Paddy Cullen, according to Con Houlihan, caught "a few swirling lofted balls, dropping almost onto his crossbar... as composed and technically correct as if being done to illustrate a text book". Cullen's distribution was also perfect during this period of the game. Dublin's "swift triangular" play led Kerry to foul their opponents and Jimmy Keaveney duly converted the frees. Kerry forward Eoin Liston roamed so far down field that his marker Séan Doherty was within sight of the Kerry goal. With 25 minutes gone, Dublin were ahead by 0–6 to 0–1. Dublin kept confidently going forward until a quick brace of passes from Jack O'Shea and Pat Spillane put John Egan through on Cullen in the Dublin goal. Cullen was not far enough forward. He set off only for Egan to fist the football over his head and into the Dublin net. Kerry, encouraged, scored a few points only for Dublin to take the lead with a point of their own. John O'Keeffe took a free, deep within the Kerry half. Jack O'Shea caught the football and drove it on a long central trajectory to the 21-yard line. A fist from Mikey Sheehy sent the football behind Dublin's backs. Dublin goalkeeper Paddy Cullen kicked the ball away from Sheehy. Referee Séamus Aldridge blew his whistle for a Kerry free. Sheehy then scored his famous lobbed goal, while Cullen argued with Aldridge.High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998. Michael O'Hehir's befuddled live television commentary went: "Paddy Cullen going out for it... And Paddy Cullen... Oh dearie me. Paddy Cullen adjudged... Oh! A goal, in the greatest freak of all time! The referee gave a free to, eh, Kerry from the 14 metre line, here it is again. Nobody was expecting the ball to be kicked, and before Paddy Cullen could get back into the goal, the ball was in the net". The manner of the goal is still contentious today. While Aldridge had awarded a free to Kerry, there are those who maintain that Ger Power had fouled Cullen shortly before. In any event, Sheehy lobbed the ball over Cullen to give his team the lead. RTÉ chose it as one of the Top 20 GAA Moments in 2005 and it features prominently in the 1978 episode of Reeling in the Years. According to Martin Breheny, it is also one of the most viewed incidents from the GAA's archives. Dublin's resistance collapsed in the second half. The half ended in a score of 3–8 to 0–2 in Kerry's favour. Eoin Liston scored the three second-half goals. Kerry won by seventeen points. Details 24 September 1978 Final Dublin football 0–9 – 5–11 Kerry football J Keaveney 0–8, B Brogan 0–1 E Liston 3–2, M Sheehy 1–4, J Egan 1–2, J O'Shea 0–1, G Power 0–1, P Spillane 0–1 Croke Park, Dublin Séamus Aldridge (Kildare) 71,503 _navyborder _darkblueneck _navyborder _skytop 8FB8EE 8FB8EE 8FB8EE 101a56 101a56 Dublin _gold_hoop _goldhorizontal _gold_hoop _hoops_gold 006600 006600 006600 ffffff 006600 Kerry section January 2025 the teams not being laid out as, for instance, at 2024 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final#Details, with full names visible, substitutes in numerical order and 'subon'/'suboff' templates included Dublin 1 P. Cullen 2 G. O'Driscoll 3 S. Doherty 4 R. Kelleher 5 T. Drumm 6 K. Moran 7 P. O'Neill 8 B. Mullins 9 B. Brogan 10 A. O'Toole 11 T. Hanahoe (c) 12 D. Hickey 13 B. Doyle 14 J. Keaveney 15 J. McCarthy Subs not used 16 P. Hogan 17 J. Brogan 18 P. O'Reilly 19 F. Ryder 20 D. Maher 21 P. Gogarty Manager T. Hanahoe Kerry 1 C. Nelligan 2 J. Deenihan 3 J. O'Keeffe 4 M. Spillane 5 P. Ó Sé 6 T. Kennelly 7 P. Lynch 8 J. O'Shea 9 S. Walsh 10 G. Power 11 D. Moran (c) 12 P. Spillane 13 M. Sheehy 14 E. Liston 15 J. Egan Sub used 20 Paudie O'Mahony for J. Deenihan Subs not used 16 J. Mulvihill 17 V. O'Connor 18 P. O'Mahony 19 G. Griffin 21 P. McCarthy 22 M. O'Sullivan 23 T. Bridgeman 24 G. O'Driscoll Manager M. O'Dwyer Post-match In the Evening Press the following day, Con Houlihan memorably described Cullen's misfortune: "Paddy dashed back towards his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning. The ball won the race and it curled inside the near post as Paddy crashed into the outside of the net and lay against it like a fireman who had returned to find his station ablaze".https://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/con-houlihan-paddy-dashed-back-to-his-goal-like-a-woman-who-smells-a-cake-burning--26885274.html 'Paddy dashed back to his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning...' Irish Independent 9 August 2012 9 August 2012Tony Leen https://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/when-you-read-con-you-get-to-know-what-he-has-distilled-from-life-203180.html 'When you read Con, you get to know what he has distilled from life' Irish Examiner 6 August 2012 6 August 2012 Mikey Sheehy may have become prince of thieves with that notorious goal in the 1978 All-Ireland final against Dublin, but the coronation came down a three-column strip the following evening in the Evening Press: 'And while all this was going on, Mikey Sheehy was running up to take the kick and suddenly Paddy [Cullen] dashed back towards his goal like a woman who smells a cake burning. The ball won the race and it curled inside the near post as Paddy crashed into the outside of the net and lay against it like a fireman who had returned to find his station ablaze'. Cullen and Sheehy recreated the goal in 2017 as part of the centenary commemorations of Austin Stacks (the club of Sheehy and Ger Power in Tralee). Cullen donned an apron for the occasion and roared "Me cake" as he ran towards the goal.Michael McCarthy https://www.balls.ie/gaa/mikey-sheehy-paddy-cullen-brilliantly-recreate-famous-goal-ever-scored-360187 Mikey Sheehy And Paddy Cullen Brilliantly Recreate The Most Famous Goal Ever Scored 25 March 2017 25 March 2017 Note: Some minor corrections to the written transcript of O'Hehir's commentary based on the video within. Kevin Moran was a member of the losing Dublin team that day. Moran is known to the English (and others) for his time spent playing soccer with Manchester United.https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/name_game/3949181.stm Name Game: John to Kerry BBC Sport BBC 24 October 2004 24 October 2004 Manchester United [whose] centre-half Kevin Moran was sent off in an FA Cup Final in 1985. Moran played Gaelic Football for Dublin in the 1978 All-Ireland defeat at the hands of... Kerry References All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, 1978 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals Category:All-Ireland Senior Football Championship finals Category:GAA finals at Croke Park Category:Dublin county football team matches Category:Kerry county football team matches