1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

Football match

Event

1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Cork	Meath

0–11	0–9

Date

16 September 1990

Venue

Croke Park, Dublin

Referee

Paddy Russell (Tipperary)

Attendance

65,723

← 1989 1991 →

The 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was a Gaelic football match played at Croke Park on 16 September 1990 to determine the winners of the 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the 104th 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 Cork of Munster and Meath of Leinster, with Cork winning by 0–11 to 0–9.

Match

Summary

For the third time in four years Cork faced Meath in an All-Ireland SFC decider, as the reigning champions did battle with the champions of 1987 and 1988. In the first half, Cork had built up a nice lead before there plans were derailed somewhat. A pumped-up Colm O'Neill hit Meath's Mick Lyons, and was dismissed from the field of play. In spite of this, Cork still held a one-point lead at half-time.

The second half was a dour struggle. Cork's strategy of isolating Meath's extra player worked well as Shay Fahy dominated midfield. The final score of 0–11 to 0–9 gave Cork the title.

Cork's All-Ireland SFC final victory was the second in succession, the first and only time in the team's history to have retained the title. The win gave the team a sixth All-Ireland SFC title overall, and put them fourth in their own right on the all-time roll of honour.

Meath were appearing in a first All-Ireland SFC final since they triumphed in 1988. Defeat at the hands of Cork was the first of back-to-back All-Ireland SFC final defeats for the Royal County.

1990 is regarded as the greatest year in the history of the GAA in Cork. In winning the All-Ireland SFC title against Meath, Cork achieved a rare double, as the Cork senior hurling team had earlier claimed the All-Ireland SHC title against Galway. It also marked the 100th anniversary of Cork achieving their previous double.

Cork's Denis Walsh, as a substitute, and Teddy McCarthy became dual All-Ireland medallists once again; however, McCarthy's achievement was the most spectacular of all. As a member of the starting fifteen in both codes he became the first player in the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association to win All-Ireland medals in both codes in the same season. It is a record which still stands.

The referee played 9 seconds of additional time.

Details

16 September 199015:15 IST

Cork	0–11 – 0–9	Meath
S Fahy (0–4), L Tompkins (0–4), M McCarthy (0–2), P McGrath (0–1)	Report	B Stafford (0–6), B Flynn (0–1), C Coyle (0–1), D Beggy (0–1)

Croke Park, DublinAttendance: 65,723Referee: Paddy Russell (Tipperary)

Cork

Meath

This section needs editing to comply with Misplaced Pages's Manual of Style. In particular, it has problems with 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. Please help improve the content. (January 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Cork =

Subs used: 19 P. Hayes for D. Barry; 20 J. O'Driscoll for M. McCarthy; 21 J. Cleary for P. McGrath

Subs not used: 16 M. Maguire; 17 C. Corrigan; 18 T. Davis; 22 J. Kerrigan; 23 D. Walsh; 24 M. O'Connor

Manager: B. Morgan

Meath =

Subs: C. Coyle for C. Brady; J. Cassells for G. McEntee; T. Dowd for D. Beggy

Manager: S. Boylan

References

Russell, Adrian (16 September 2020). "The Double 30 years on: 'When Paddy Russell blew the whistle, the roar was ferocious'". Irish Examiner.
Lyons, Tom (18 August 2007). "Cork v Meath here we go again !". The Southern Star. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
"Cork v Meath: Latest chapter in an old rivalry". Irish Independent. 15 August 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
"The Double 30 years on - Part 1: 'Sometimes you had to be a little bit nasty'". Irish Examiner. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
Moran, Seán (11 September 2019). "Will time be on Dublin's side once more?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 11 September 2019. If referee David Gough had played as little injury-time as his predecessor PJ McGrath in the 1982 final, Dean Rock would never have had the opportunity to equalise in the 74th minute. McGrath added just 35 seconds of additional time and this was not simply because there were fewer stoppages – it was common practice. Randomly chosen finals – at five-year intervals – in the decades that followed indicate that as little as nine seconds in 1990 and 40 seconds in 2000 (drawn match) were added on for injury-time in those football All-Irelands.

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 Cork county football team matches
All-Ireland SFC finals	1890 1891 1893 1894 1897 1899 1906 1907 1911 1945 1956 1957 1967 1973 1987 1988 1989 1990 1993 1999 2007 2009 2010
Munster SFC finals	1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1897 1898 1899 1901 1903 1906 1907 1909 1910 1911 1913 1914 1916 1917 1928 1935 1938 1942 1943 1945 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1961 1962 1963 1964 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1993 1994 1995 1996 1999 2000 2001 2002 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Cork county football team matches

All-Ireland SFC finals

Munster SFC finals

v t e Meath county football team matches
All-Ireland SFC finals	1895 1939 1949 1951 1952 1954 1966 1967 1970 1987 1988 1990 1991 1996 1999 2001
Leinster SFC finals	1894 1895 1896 1911 1923 1930 1939 1940 1947 1949 1950 1951 1952 1954 1955 1964 1966 1967 1970 1973 1974 1976 1977 1984 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2001 2010 2012 2013 2014 2019 2020
Tailteann Cup finals	2023

Categories: