Games that live in your memory.

jethro081

Just thought i'd start this to see what Great games people have witnessed. Games you were actually at that you'll never forget for one reason or another.

Mine are the NFL Div 2 final of 2005 with the last minute own goal for monaghan. Was a great game to watch with a great ending, (for me anyway)

Monaghan Vs. Armagh USFC Rd 1 2003.- speaks for itself really beating the defending ulster and AI champs when your ranked as one of the worst teams in the championship was pretty special.

My own club winning the Monaghan junior championship in 2001. Great day and one of the reasons i started to follow football so much.

These were great days for me and i wanted to see what ones ye all would throw up.

will1977

There are 2 that stand out for me being a Wexford man.

1. Wexford beating Kilkenny by an injury time goal Mick Jacob to win the Leinster semi final in 2004 after he blocked down a Peter Barry clearance

2. Wexford drawing with Cork in the 2003 All Ireland semi final. Again a last minute goal by Rory McCarthy. ( We got hammered in in replay !!! )

kevmy

Good ones first

Mayo v Dublin in 2006 semi. Fantastic atmosphere, fantastic game, fantastic ending and even the weather was good

Mayo v Tyrone in 2004 quarter. Beating the current AI champions when no one gave us a chance. Some fantastic long range points, it gave us the belief again.

Mayo v Offaly in 97 semi. Shockin weather but we won and we thought we had an AI won as well. Same day as Princess Di died as well so it was memorable.

Also any time I've seen us beat Galway.

Now the bad ones

Mayo v Kerry AI final 04 and 06. 2 horrible days when we didn't do ourselves justice and ended up going home in despair.

Mayo v Roscommon Connacht final 01. We really snatched defeat from the jaws of victory here. A last minute Ros goal sunk us when all we had to do was hold possession.

Mayo v Galway Connacht final 03. My first trip to Salthill for a championship game. Another one we should have won but we missed a penalty then those damn Tribesmen went up the field and whacked in a goal.

smashey

1992.

That is all.

K-9

Donegal V. Dublin - 1992

Donegal V. Kerry AI U-21 Draw and Replay 1987

The above for obvious reasons.

Tyrone V. Armagh 2005 AI SF.

For the pure intensity and battle of two teams at the top of their game.

FatherTed

Funnily enough I think more about the hurling finals Galway lost than the ones we won e.g. 81 against Offaly and 90 against Cork. Had leads in both games and should have won. Still cant figure them out

chubba1984

Game that stands out most in my memory is that day we beat Lissycasey, the other half of our parish, in an Under 21 football final replay. I can't say any Clare games were too memeorable to me, I find the memories of the club winning last longer.

An Citeog

I can't really think of many tbh and up until this year, there was no real standout memory.

The Bad

Dublin vs Mayo in the 2006 AI semi. Blowing a six point lead in the second half was absolutely criminal.

Dublin vs Armagh in the 2002 AI semi. I'll never forget Ray Cosgrove's free in the dying seconds coming back off the upright. Horrible!:(

The Good

Waterford vs Cork in the 2007 AI quarter final replay. That catch by Ken McGrath, running towards his own goal was absolutely unreal.

Dublin vs Laois in the 2005 Leinster semi-final. Mossy Quinn kicked 1 45 and a long range free at the death to win the game.

Dublin vs Tyrone in the 2005 AI quarters. That Mulligan goal and another pointed free from Mossy Quinn right at the death to bring the game to a replay.

But the best of all happened just 11 days ago and not even Dublin winning Sam could top that for me.

St. Vincents vs Nemo Rangers in the 2008 AI Club final. Watching the lads I grew up with, went to school with and played with from the age of 6 all the way up. The nerves, the tension, seeing Nemo claw their way back into the game to bring them within a point of Vins. The feeling of sheer desperation as James Masters stepped up to take a free 20 metres out to the right of the goal which would have brought the scores level and no doubt Nemo would have kicked on from there. An unforgettable day and a really hard fought match, which didn't end in heartbreak.:)

I've been to loads more matches like when Monaghan beat Meath in the div 2 league final, Leinster and AI championship matches that didn't involve the Dubs but these are the ones that stick out for me.

pd101

Last years Tommy Murphy Cup Final. First time either my club or county have won anything while I've been around.

jackbhoy

Westmeath beating Laois to win first Leinster, seeing my Dad, who had only missed 3-4 c'ship games in 50 years, in tears in Cusack Stand is something I'll never forget, one of only 2 times in life I've ever seen him cry!!

Flukey

Too many for me to mention. Any match Kerry lose is great, so sitting on a step on the top of the Cusack Stand and jumping up in the air when a certain Seamus Darby scored a famous goal is one of my great moments. One of the most famous all time moments in Irish sporting history, and I saw it.

Any match when an underdog wins totally against the odds is a great game. Matches where long standing hoodoos or time gaps are broken are great too. I've witnessed many of them, and there some I still hope to witness. Most GAA people would love to see Waterford or Mayo win another All-Ireland for example. Sam Maguire going to Mayo would make for huge celebrations, as would Liam McCarthy going to Waterford.

Green Giant

3 September 1995 - the 81-year wait is over!!!
Two years later, we're All-Ireland champions again, how sweet it is to beat Tipp by one point
Also remember St. Patrick's Day 96 when my club Sixmilebridge beat Dunloy


Unfortunately, there are also the bad times. I don't think I will ever be so utterly shattered and despondent again in the manner that I was when we threw away a 6-point lead against Cork in the All-Ireland semis in 2005 to lose by one measly point

Tazdedub

The Good:

Dublin vs Tyrone AI quarter final drawn game 2005. I will never forget this one, what a game.

Dublin vs Meath, the saga from the early 90's.


The bad:

All Ireland hurling final last year.

Kilkenny vs Offaly 2005 leinster championship. The game was bad because Offaly put up no competition. Think the score was 6-30 or something to a few points.

Tomthepost

All Ireland Quarter Final 2006 Kerry V Armagh. The goal by Star brillant! This game coming of course after 2005 All Ireland Final Kerry V Tyrone. The best final I have been and I would suggest probably the best final since the goal by Darby.

jethro081

Oh Armagh winning sam in 2002 was another one i forgot to mention. The emotion on mcgeeny's face was something special as was his speech. The homecoming afterward was massive and that in itself was something special. great to see.

aidan24326

The standout memory for me was beating Kildare in 98. Other Galway memories would be the hurling finals in 87 and 88 and also the hurling final in 1990 which was a fantastic game even though we lost it.

Other standout memories.

-Armagh fans bursting onto the pitch in 2002. Pure emotion and to hell with the rules.

-Tyrone v Armagh 2005. Incredible atmosphere and intensity.

-Joe Canning scoring a sideline cut from inside his own half in the Galway championship a couple of years ago. The best score I've ever seen in a game of hurling.

-Galway v Derry in 98 semi. Went to Croke Park with no real expectations (Derry hot favs) and watched the coming of age of the best Galway football team we've had in decades.

-A number of Dublin's games in recent years have been memorable for great excitement and atmosphere.

-Dublin v Meath of 91 is very memorable especially the way it ended with such drama, Meath scoring one of the greatest goals in championship history to win it was such a fitting end to a compelling series of games.

Fozzie Bear

Galway v Roscommon 2001 Connaught semi final. The day a 19 year old Seamie O'Neill played his one and only good match for Roscommon. He was outstanding that day in Tuam against Kevin Walsh and Sean O'Donnaill.

Roscommon v Mayo 2001 Connaught Final. For reasons already given above. We won with a last minute goal from Eddie Lohan. What a finish!

Dublin v Roscommon 2002 league match. Beat Dublin in Parnell park. The indo tipped us as dark horses for the AI based on that performance, fallen a long long way since then!

Roscommon v Kildare 2003? AI qualifiers. Frankie Dolan was out standing and scored an amazing point from a side line ball on the 21 yard line. Fantastic game of football.

Mayo v Dublin 2006 AI semi final. What a match and what a finish from Goldie locks with the winning score. Possibly one the best games i have ever attended for sheer excitement and atmosphere.

Roscommon v Kerry 2006 Minor AI final & replay for obvious reasons. Roscommons first minor title in 53 odd years.

cournioni

Cavan vs. Derry 1997: Jason Reilly goal right in front of us in the terrace. Was an absolutely magic moment because there was so many Cavan people there. We completely outnumbered the Derry crowd and the release of emotion at the end when we had won was something that will always stay with me. Great moment!

Cavan vs. Kerry 1997: Fintan Cahill's goal in front of a royal blue Hill 16, absolute cracker into the top corner to put Cavan a goal ahead of Kerry. Also Jason Reilly being denied a stone wall penalty in the second half. Maurice Fitzgerald was another huge performer that day. He was head and shoulders above everyone.

Cavan vs. Derry 1999: Cavan down by five points with two minutes left, we get a soft penalty that was duely converted by Peter Reilly and then McCabe pops up with a fisted goal minutes later. Then that prick Brolly got the equaliser after the referee had told the Cavan players that the 45 was the last kick of the game.

Dublin vs. Tyrone 1995: Top of the Cusack for my first All Ireland final, great game... Full of incidents, "that" Redmond sending off, Canavan tearing Dublin to shreads, Jason Sherlock scoring a goal after losing his boot.

Flukey

As this thread shows, there are two types of great matches. Great results and great quality matches. Often you can have a terrible result, which was a great match. Equally you can have a great result which was a terrible match.

patmac

When I first went to Dublin back in the early 80's it was easy to go to AI semi-finals that didn't involve Dublin, being from Westmeath we could only cheer the referee(always raised a laugh when me and my mate used to applaud Paddy Collins on to the field) anyway I have to admit being spellbound by the brilliant Kerry team of that time and the one match that stood out was the semi-final between Kerry and Offaly with the brilliant Matt Connor in fine form for the biffo's, it seemed like every time Offaly would get a goal Kerry would respond with one of their own, final score was something like 4-20 to 4-16.

Most recently the 2004 Leinster Final and victory over Laois, and the U21 final back in 1999/2000 and victory over Kerry.

K-9

The 86 AI stands out for me for the same reason. Was shouting for Tyrone but the way they came back in the second half was something else. A joy to have seen them in the flesh.

Flukey

This is my photo of the famous penalty from that match. You can just about see the ball going over the bar. They should have gone for a goal, but even then, they were 7 points up. A bad refereeing decision and a cock-up between the Tyrone midfielders led to the two goals that let Kerry back in. There was undoubtedly a foul on a Tyrone player in the lead up to one of them. Kerry did play well in the closing 20 minutes, and although they eventually won by 8 points (2 - 15 to 1 - 10), it was one that Tyrone left behind them.

K-9

Was it Kevin McCabe who went for the point?

7 points up and lost by 8. Kind of makes you understand why they got they played the blanket defence! The 03 Semi Final wasn't quite as open! :rolleyes:

Losing Frank McGuigan after the Ulster Final may have been the real turning point that year. 11 points in the Final that year, all from play if I remember correctly.

Edit: that was 84 when I think of it!

Mossin

Best memories:

'97 All-Ireland Football Finals [Senior and Minor]
Laois beat Tyrone - Minor Final
The Maurice Fitzgerald vs Mayo - Senior Final. Absolute legend.

'03 Lenister Semi-Final
Laois vs Dublin

'03 Lenister Final
Laois vs Kildare

'06 Lenister Junior A Final
Park/Ratheniska [Laois] vs St. Ultans [Meath]
Magical day for the Laoismen on their home turf

Too many bad memories to list...............

flahavaj

An Citeog wrote: »

Waterford vs Cork in the 2007 AI quarter final replay. That catch by Ken McGrath, running towards his own goal was absolutely unreal.

The single finest piece of skill that I have ever had the privilege of witnessing. It sums up Ken McGrath in a nutshell, pure hunger, bravery, desire, skill. I get emotional even thinking about it and I still have no idea how such an immense catch is even possible. Thats a match that I'll never forget as long as I live, especially the feeling in the last five minutes as the Waterford lads really flexed their muscles and puled away and killed off Cork after 140 minutes of ridiculously intense, skillful hurling. I really really thought that win was the springboard to an Alll Ireland, alas Limerick had other ideas.:mad:

Equally memorable one is the greatest Munster Final of all time, in 2004 again against Cork. A roller coaster of emotions and so many treasured memories, from the audacity of Paul Flynn's 30 yard goal, to Shanahan's goal, to the despair of Mullane's sending of, to the unbelievable second half showing with 14 men, to Ken McGraths 100 yard point to the joy of the finak whistle. Pure magic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtJaPmCtWRE

Daysha

flahavaj wrote: »

Equally memorable one is the greatest Munster Final of all time, in 2004 again against Cork. A roller coaster of emotions and so many treasured memories, from the audacity of Paul Flynn's 30 yard goal, to Shanahan's goal, to the despair of Mullane's sending of, to the unbelievable second half showing with 14 men, to Ken McGraths 100 yard point to the joy of the finak whistle. Pure magic.

THIS! Still the greatest GAA match i've ever seen, and unless Waterford win an All Ireland I can't imagine ever seeing anything better.

Sunny June afternoon and there was an amazing atmosphere both in the square beforehand and in SS during the match itself. And the match really epitomised why the two counties are in the first great rivalry of the 21st century. Not only do they throw up unbelievably close matches time and time again, but they do so playing some of the greatest quality of hurling most of us have ever seen, like Ken and Bricks catches in the AI QF replay last year or that passage of play starting at 4:46 on the youtube link

I was in the Waterford terrace that day and it really was one of those occasions you'll look back on in years to come and never forget

villains77

kerry v armagh and last years semi final dublin v kerry all my mates say thatmatch " as the all ireland final"!!!!!!. allthough i do enjoy
any kerry wins over cork. been to a few good matches in killarney in the munster finals with my familyboth cork and kerry , good banter between the cork fans and the kerry fans after the match . it great to see 2 sets of supporters getting on well and having a few pints without any trouble unlike the eejits you see at the local dublin derbies waiting to get at the home fans its only a sport at the end of the day.

bohsboy

The Good
Dublin v Cork 1983 All Ireland Semi Final - was only 8 but remember being on the Hill deep deep into injury time to see Barney Rock blast an equalising goal to the net. In the chaos on the Hill after the goal, I lost my shoe but happily skipped home with my dad! Two weeks later 25,000 Dubs went south to Cork for the replay which we won easily.

The Bad
That Meath goal in the fourth goal of the saga by Foley. Remember looking around thinking someone was playing a practical joke. "Where we not six points up two minutes ago"? Think those games mentally scarred me.

blackbelt

There are so many games that live in my memory.

The earliest games I remember where my first trips to Croke Park in the early 90s circa 1990 and 1991 for games when we played Meath and Cork.I think I was at some of the Dublin-Meath saga matches but can't remember exactly.

More recently,

Dublin v Meath in 2002 was one.That was a great game.Dublin v Wexford in 2005 was actually one of my favourite matches of all time even if it was a Leinster semi-final.The weather that day was unreal and I ended up getting slightly sun-burned,dehydrated and having no voice after.Also the other semi-final that was on that same day between Kildare and Laois when Laois drilled Kildare and the Dubs on Hill 16 cheering Cheerio to the early departing Kildare fans.

Dublin v Laois in 2005 Leinster Final was another.The feeling of relief springs to mind when Mossy scored the 45 at the end.
Dublin v Tyrone drawn game,if you were from either county you couldn't forget this match.Dublin v Laois 2006 for the way in which Dublin destroyed Laois with ease and playing beach ball on the Hill.

Dublin v Longford in the O Byrne Cup Final and Dublin v Mayo in 2006 semi-final.Also the Leinster Finals in 2006 and 2007 against Offaly and Laois respectively and last years replay between Dublin and Meath.

Non Dublin Matches

Westmeath defeating Laois to win Leinster in 2004.Westmeath defeating Offaly that same year for the first time since 1959.Mayo v Galway in Connaught Final in 2006 in Castlebar.

Wexford drawing with Cork in the hurling in 2003 on a hot summers day.The Waterford-Tipp hurling saga this year and the Wicklow-Louth saga too.Monaghan v Kerry in last years semi.

Club Games

St Vincents games since beating Whitehall Colmcilles in the Dublin SFC Quarter-Final to beating Nemo in Croke Park on Patricks Day.

Boden v Crokes (Nalced v Flukey) and some St Vincents league matches against bitter local rivals Na Fianna.

Flukey

Seanies32 wrote: »

Losing Frank McGuigan after the Ulster Final may have been the real turning point that year. 11 points in the Final that year, all from play if I remember correctly.

Edit: that was 84 when I think of it!

It was indeed 1984 when he got the 11 points in the Ulster. That year they played Dublin in the semi-final. They did what Mayo did in 2006 and went down to the Hill 16 end on entering the pitch. They didn't win though.

In terms of music, in 1984 a band called "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" were doing well. On that day in Croke Park there was a Tyrone banner in the Hogan Stand that read "Frankie Goes to Croke Park."

K-9

blackbelt wrote: »

Wexford drawing with Cork in the hurling in 2003 on a hot summers day.

Remember that day well. Donegal beat Galway in the AI QF Replay that day.

Everybody wrote us of after the draw and then they more or less gave Galway a home draw in Castlebar. Amazing Donegal support, we outnumbered them 4 to 1. Back in our first AI Semi in 11 years.

Hammering Tyrone in the Ulster Semi Final in 04. Sweet!

smashey

Seanies32 wrote: »

Hammering Tyrone in the Ulster Semi Final in 04. Sweet!

I remember it well. After the game, I stood at the front door of one of the pubs in Clones and directed any Tyrone fans who tried to get in, to the back door. Most of them saw the funny side of it.