1971 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

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Football match

1971 All-Ireland
Senior Football Championship final

Event

1971 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Offaly	Galway

1–14 (17)	2–8 (14)

Date

26 September 1971

Venue

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee

P. Kelly (Dublin)

Attendance

70,789

Weather

Rain

← 1970 1972 →

The 1971 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 84th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1971 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Match

Summary

Galway were appearing in their first final since the three-in-a-row side of the 1960s. Offaly, who had never won an All-Ireland title, had last contested a final in 1969.

Galway were favourites. However, a shock Murt Connor goal gave Offaly their first title. However, with the duration of certain championship matches increasing from 60 to 80 minutes during the 1970s before being settled at 70 minutes after five seasons of this in 1975, this is the only All-Ireland final whose score at 60 minutes was different (a draw) to the actual outcome.

This was the first All-Ireland final attended by Martin Breheny. The weather on the day was later described by Breheny as consisting of a "steady drizzle" in the first half, followed by a "deluge of monsoon proportions" during the second half.

It would be a further 21 years before another team (Donegal) won their first All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.

Details

Final	Offaly	1–14 – 2–8	Galway	Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 70,789 Referee: P. Kelly (Dublin)
	T McTague 0–6, M Connor 1–2, S Evans 0–2, K Kilmurray 0–2, B Clavin 0–1, J Cooney 0-1		S Leydon 2–3, F Canavan 0–3, L Sammon 0–2

Offaly

Galway

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Offaly =

Subs used: 17 J. Smith for N. Clavin; 18 P. Fenning for J. Gunning

Subs not used: 16 N. Kinnarney; 19 L. Hanlon; 20 L. Coughlan; 21 D. Murphy; 22 S. Darby; 23 G. Hughes; 24 S. Lowry

Trainer: T. F Gillooley

Galway =

Subs used: 19 T. Divilly for M. Rooney; 17 M. Feerick for F. Burke

Subs not used: 16 G. Mitchell; 18 J. McLoughlin; 20 G. King; 21 M. Byrne; 22 M. Keane

References

Kenny, Tom (14 April 2011). "The men who first brought Sam to Galway". Galway Advertiser. Retrieved 14 April 2011. Then came the three in a row team who in 1964 beat Kerry by 0 – 15 to 0 – 10; in 1965 it was Galway 0 – 12 to Kerry 0 – 9, and in 1966 Galway 1 – 10 to Meath's 0 – 7. Offaly beat us in 1971 by 1 – 14 to 2 – 8, and in 1973, Cork beat us by 3 – 17 to 2 – 13.
^ Breheny, Martin (31 August 2019). "'My 100th All-Ireland final - tales from the great occasions': From being nearly drowned on Hill 16 in 1971 to covering what could be a historic final, Martin Breheny reflects on the drama of it all". Irish Independent.
High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.
Breheny, Martin. "The Final Verdict: The Greatest of my Lifetime" in Martin Breheny's Greatest All-Ireland Finals. Irish Independent. 1 September 2018, p. 2.
Moran, Seán (11 September 2019). "Will time be on Dublin's side once more?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 September 2019. Another issue touched on by John O'Keeffe in his interview was the strange decision to extend senior championship provincial finals, All-Ireland semi-finals and finals to 80 minutes – which was an extra third on the previous duration of an hour. Curiously, it made little difference to the outcome of matches. Of the five finals plus 1972 replay played over 80 minutes – the length of a match was settled at 70 minutes from 1975 onwards – only the 1971 Offaly-Galway result would have been affected. Had it been played over an hour, it would have ended in a draw instead of Offaly's first All-Ireland triumph.

External links

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Pre-1928

Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927
Finals	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927

Beginning of
Sam Maguire

Seasons

Finals

80-minute
experiment

Seasons	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974
Finals	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974

Post-experiment

Seasons	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Finals	1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000

Qualifiers and
quarter-finals era

Seasons	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Finals	2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025

Associated competitions

Provincial Championships
Tailteann Cup
Tommy Murphy Cup (formerly)
Minor Championship (final formerly held on same day)

Statistics and awards

v t e Galway county football team matches
All-Ireland SFC finals	1919 1922 1925 1933 1934 1938 1940 1941 1942 1956 1959 1963 1964 1965 1966 1971 1973 1974 1983 1998 2000 2001 2022 2024
Other matches	Armagh 3–18 – 2–21 Galway (2022)

v t e Offaly county football team matches
All-Ireland SFC finals	1961 1969 1971 1972 1981 1982
Leinster SFC finals	1907 1945 1954 1960 1961 1962 1967 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1997 2006

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