Dublin Win Fifth Straight All-Ireland Football Final
By Robert Musantry
Sports Business Editor
The stage was set this past Saturday for one of the biggest football games ever. No, not that football, with its oblong ball commonly found in America. And not that other football either, the one also known as soccer and played in all corners of the planet. No, this football is of a different type. Gaelic football is a sport played in Ireland, invented as a combination of sports in 1884. Now, over 2,500 clubs participate in competitions all over the world. The sport’s reach may not equal that of the other games that share a common name, but it is growing fast.
This particular match was the 2019 All-Ireland Football Final Replay, played between Kerry and Dublin. To understand what that means, it is necessary to take a wider look at what sport means in Ireland. For one, the teams that make up this competition are created vastly differently than those in other sports. For the All-Ireland championships, teams are made up simply of players from the same county. An example of this is the team from Kerry is made up of only players from County Kerry. This has an interesting impact on the game, as fans are quite literally related to the players on the field. The team’s success and failure is in each fan’s DNA, one could say. The passion that comes as a result of this is like no other.
Another aspect is that the game is an amateur one. Meaning, these are not “professionals” in the common sense, they have other, full time jobs, and participate in the game as sort of a hobby. Although they would not call it that, that is for sure. These players give their all on the field, risking injury for glory – probably another result of the unique and passion-fueled county system.
This year’s edition of the final had another wrinkle for fans to deal with. The final was originally played on September 1. That game, with all its action and scoring, ended in a tie. In the structure of the competition, this means that the two teams went to a replay and played the whole game over again. So, almost two weeks later on September 14, they went back to Croke Park and did it all again. Dublin was playing for their fifth straight title, and as the most successful team in history Kerry had no intention of letting them do that. In fact, Kerry had one four titles in a row previously in history, only to lose out on number five. So the history going into this match, plus a tie in the first game, set up an amazing replay.
In front of over 80,000 fans in historic Croke Park, the home of Gaelic sport, Dublin was able to come away with the victory. The first game ended in a 1-16 to 1-16 tie, and the replay finished 1-18 to 0-15 in Dublin’s favor. Eoin Murchan scored the singular goal for his side, and Ciaran Kilkenny, Con O’Callaghan, and Paul Mannion each added four points for the Dubs.
On Kerry’s side, Sean O’Shea led the team in scoring again with five points. He was matched by David Clifford who also turned in the same amount, and these two players accounted for two-thirds of the team’s final score.
This game was surely one for the ages, and one that no fan will soon forget. Kerry’s historic dominance was not quite enough for the recent dynasty created in Dublin, and neutral fans got to witness the rare replay with a tough fought contest in both games.
Contact Robert at robert.musantry@student.shu.edu