The 1961 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 74th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1961 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

tournament for the top teams in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. A crowd of 90,556 (a record at the old

Croke Park Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and he ...

) watched the match between Down and

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

Match

The biggest crowd ever to attend Croke Park saw an explosive opening to the match - Offaly's Mick Casey and Peter Daly got goals to put them six points ahead with the match barely begun. Down recovered with three goals by half-time, and led by two points with minutes to go.

Har Donnelly Har or HAR may refer to: People * Har Bilas Sarda (1867-1955), Indian academic, judge and politician * Har Sharma (1922–1992), Indian cricket umpire Mythology * Hár and Hárr, among the many names of Odin in Norse mythology * Horus, an Eg ...

had a 21-yard free for Offaly, and took a point when a goal was really needed.

Legacy

This was Down's second appearance in an All-Ireland final, and their second win from two. It was the second of three All-Ireland football titles won by Down in the 1960s, which made them joint "team of the decade" with

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

who also won three.

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, 1961

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Finals Down county football team matches Offaly county football team matches