A great GAA and Irish sporting anniversary

Flukey

It is probably one of the most often shown pieces of footage in the history of Irish sport. 30 years ago today, on the 19th of September 1982, this happened...and I was there::)

iDave

I'm not from Offaly and I wasnt born when it happened but wow what a goal, sends shivers down my spine. Perhaps the most important in the history of the GAA

Swiper the fox

Can I take it for granted ye've all read Kings of September, one of the best of all GAA books, I pointed out on another forum recently how ungracious the Kerry players were and still appear to be after that game.

Scrappylad

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Can I take it for granted ye've all read Kings of September, one of the best of all GAA books, I pointed out on another forum recently how ungracious the Kerry players were and still appear to be after that game.

Great read. Recommend it to anyone.

Fr Tod Umptious

"and it looks as if they were winning, the way the Offaly men are just diddling and daudling there"

Classic line.
remember seeing it on TV as it happend, jaw dropping stuff at the time, still is too.

Flukey

Fr Tod Umptious wrote: »

"and it looks as if they were winning, the way the Offaly men are just diddling and daudling there"

Classic line.

The commentary by Michael O'Hehir was great. Prophetically, they were winning a minute later. Right at the end, though that clip cuts it off, is "There was a goal in the game." Throughout the commentary in the match, he was mentioning the possibility of there being a goal in the game, and wondering would it come, hence that comment. I have the full video of the match. It was a great match, not just for the result.

We all know about the 4-in-a-row Kerry had accumulated, but at the same time Offaly, were progressing one round further each year, culminating in winning the final in 1982. If you remember, they lost the final in 1981 and lost the semi-final in 1980, both to Kerry. In 1979, they lost the Leinster final, and I think lost the Leinster semi-final in 1978.

Flukey

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Can I take it for granted ye've all read Kings of September, one of the best of all GAA books, I pointed out on another forum recently how ungracious the Kerry players were and still appear to be after that game.

Here is a bit more about it, from the greatest GAA moments selection, in which Mikey Sheehy does give Offaly some credit.

eyescreamcone

Biggest injustice in GAA history.
Darby fouled the Kerry back before gathering the ball to score. (and I'm from Cork)

But that's sport - it will throw up these upsets once in a lifetime.

Skid

Flukey wrote: »

The commentary by Michael O'Hehir was great. Prophetically, they were winning a minute later. Right at the end, though that clip cuts it off, is "There was a goal in the game." Throughout the commentary in the match, he was mentioning the possibility of there being a goal in the game, and wondering would it come, hence that comment. I have the full video of the match. It was a great match, not just for the result.

That really stuck in my mind watching the game a few years ago on TG4. The mischievous Micheál kept saying 'I wonder, is there a goal in this game?'. It was almost as if he have taken a look at the last page of the script and wanted to tease us about the ending. He was an amazing commentator, never equalled in any sport in my opinion.

That goal was one of the great moments of Sport, I never get tired of it.

Flukey

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Biggest injustice in GAA history.
Darby fouled the Kerry back before gathering the ball to score. (and I'm from Cork)

But that's sport - it will throw up these upsets once in a lifetime.

He barely touched him, if at all. If you want to go down that road, then roll back to 1978. 34 years on, and we still don't know what Seamus Aldridge gave the free that led to Mikey Sheehy's famous goal for. It definitely wasn't picked from the ground, and there was no other foul. Add to that, that the free was taken from the wrong place, and before the ref blew for it, and with his back to Mikey. It should have been a free out then, or at least a re-take. No 4-in-a-row, never mind 5. So if you are going to say a goal that never should have been stopped the 5-in-a-row, then a goal that never should have been started the 4-in-a-row.

ShamoBuc

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Biggest injustice in GAA history.
Darby fouled the Kerry back before gathering the ball to score. (and I'm from Cork)

But that's sport - it will throw up these upsets once in a lifetime.

when I read that bit, I thought that Stinicker fella would write the exact same thing :pac:

tayto lover

My dad watched that game and cheered for Offaly (though from Cavan himself). The next day he went into hospital for tests and was diagnosed with cancer. He died 7 weeks later. That was the last game he saw.

padd b1975

Its a travesty how this goal was not voted the greatest GAA moment ever.

That competion was a farce.

eyescreamcone

Flukey wrote: »

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Biggest injustice in GAA history.
Darby fouled the Kerry back before gathering the ball to score. (and I'm from Cork)

But that's sport - it will throw up these upsets once in a lifetime.

He barely touched him, if at all. If you want to go down that road, then roll back to 1978. 34 years on, and we still don't know what Seamus Aldridge gave the free that led to Mikey Sheehy's famous goal for. It definitely wasn't picked from the ground, and there was no other foul. Add to that, that the free was taken from the wrong place, and before the ref blew for it, and with his back to Mikey. It should have been a free out then, or at least a re-take. No 4-in-a-row, never mind 5. So if you are going to say a goal that never should have been stopped the 5-in-a-row, then a goal that never should have been started the 4-in-a-row.

Kerry won the 78 final
5-11 to 0-9
How did the Sheehy goal affect the final result?

Flukey

eyescreamcone wrote: »

Kerry won the 78 final
5-11 to 0-9
How did the Sheehy goal affect the final result?

It changed the course of the game. Without that goal, the final score would not have been 4 - 11 to 0 - 9, but it changed it. It came against the run of play, at a time that Dublin were in top. The Bomber scored a hatrick that day, that was critical too, but that goal started Kerry's momentum. It was like what Mikey Sheehy said in the clip above about Martin Furlong's save of his penalty in the 1982 final, and how it gave Offaly a lift. Maybe if Sheehy hadn't scored that goal in 1978, the game would have taken a different course and Kerry might have won it 6-14 to 2-10, who knows? Every change of a bounce of a ball, or player or referee's decision changes a game, and we could have millions of parallel universes where each match we see goes off in a different direction at each incident. We can't be sure. We can be sure though that that goal did change the course of the game in 1978 and the result would have been different, whether Kerry won it or not.

eyescreamcone

17 points margin in a football final and you're going on about a game changing incident. Get off the stage!

Swiper the fox

I agree with flukey on this one, I've seen that game on All Ireland Gold a couple of times, Dublin were well on top early on and that goal changed the whole game, who knows who would have won.

Luca Brasi

Swiper the fox wrote: »

Can I take it for granted ye've all read Kings of September, one of the best of all GAA books, I pointed out on another forum recently how ungracious the Kerry players were and still appear to be after that game.

Just about when they were getting over 1982 Dublin come along in 2011 and does the same.
If you really want begrudgery just get a Kilkenny man going about their defeat by Limerick in 1973

eyescreamcone

17 points
We'll have to agree to disagree

Dirty Dingus McGee

Dublin were well on top before the goal and they completely fell apart after the goal.The seemed shell shocked by it where as Kerry were energized by it.It certainly was the turning point of the match and even though Kerry easily won the match you don't know what would have happened had the goal not stood

eyescreamcone

By 1978 Dublin were finished as a force and Kerry were as good as any team in history.
Dublin's old legs couldn't match the Kerryman with or without the Sheehy goal.

You'd have to go back to 1936 for a bigger margin of victory.
Dublin might have started well but they were never going to last the pace for the whole game.
In 1979 the margin was still huge - around 11 points, with no Sheehy goal from a free.

DDC1990

Wasn't alive in 82 and I'm still bitter about it! :P

Greatest robbery in Gaa history until the Joe Sheridan Touchdown :P

I would imagine for 31 other counties that this would be a great moment in history alright, even though the ref got them back in the game, he pushed him in the back, he shinned the ball, and Kerry were denied the chance to draw the game by some more shoddy refereeing.

In fairness it would have been a travasty if Matt Conors hadn't won an All Ireland medal, so its good in a way that Offaly won this game. One of the greatest Footballers of all time. I love watching any old Offaly game on TG4. The Semi Final against Kerry that finished 4-15 to 4-10 (or something liek that) Matt was masterful.