1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

1977 All-Ireland Football Championship final
Event	1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Date	25 September 1977
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Referee	John Moloney (Tipperary)
Attendance	66,542
	← 1976 1978 →

The 1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the ninetieth All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. The game was contested by Armagh and Dublin. Dublin retained the Sam Maguire Cup.

Pre-match

This was Armagh's second ever All-Ireland SFC final. Their previous appearance was in 1953. Dublin had appeared in the previous three finals, winning two of those (1974 and 1976).

Match

Summary

Jimmy Keaveney scored 2–6, which was the amount Dublin won by. This final's eight goals is joint most scored in a final, a record shared with the 1948 match.^[1]

Joe Kernan scored two of Armagh's goals.^[2] Jimmy Smyth captained Armagh.^[3]

An early goal by Keaveney and Dublin led by 3–6 to 1–3 at half-time and by 4–8 to 1–3 at one point in the second half before the two Kernan goals; in 2022, Martin Breheny listed it among "five of the worst" All-Ireland SFC finals since 1972.^[4]

Armagh would not return to an All-Ireland football decider until 2002.

Details

Dublin =

Subs used: 17 P. Reilly for P. O'Neill; 16 A. Larkin for B. Brogan; 18 J. Brogan for R. Kelleher

Subs not used: 19 P. Gogarty; 20 B. Pocock; 21 F. Ryder; 22 N. Bernard; 23 M. Hickey; 24 L. Egan; 25 D. Maher

Manager: T. Hanahoe

Armagh =

Subs used: J. Loughran for J. Donnelly; S. Daly for N. Marley; F. Toman for J. McKerr

References

^ High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.
^ "Armagh are champions". BBC. 22 September 2002. It was sweet revenge too for Armagh boss Joe Kernan who scored two goals when the Orchard County lost in their last final appearance to Dublin 25 years ago.
^ Watters, Andy (16 September 2020). "Neighbours St Paul's and Clan na Gael do battle for bragging rights and silverware in all-Lurgan Armagh championship final". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. ...Smyth, winner of nine senior championship medals, the Armagh skipper in the 1977 All-Ireland final and then a popular GAA commentator on BBC.
^ Breheny, Martin (9 August 2022). "Five of the worst All-Ireland football finals since 1972". Irish Independent.

[1] High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.

[2] "Armagh are champions". BBC. 22 September 2002. It was sweet revenge too for Armagh boss Joe Kernan who scored two goals when the Orchard County lost in their last final appearance to Dublin 25 years ago.

[3] Watters, Andy (16 September 2020). "Neighbours St Paul's and Clan na Gael do battle for bragging rights and silverware in all-Lurgan Armagh championship final". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. ...Smyth, winner of nine senior championship medals, the Armagh skipper in the 1977 All-Ireland final and then a popular GAA commentator on BBC.

[4] Breheny, Martin (9 August 2022). "Five of the worst All-Ireland football finals since 1972". Irish Independent.

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