"Five in a Row" was a song released in advance of the

1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 95th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. The game ...

to celebrate

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

's imminent winning of five consecutive titles. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' has described it as "infamous". The song's chorus features such lines as: "Five in a row, five in a row, never again will there be five in a row" and "It's hard to believe we've won the five in a row". Kerry, however, had not won the fifth title; they still had a game to play and faced

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 ...

in the decider. Offaly manager Eugene McGee played the song in his team's dressing room ahead of the game. With Kerry leading by two points approaching the game's conclusion,

Séamus Darby Séamus Darby (born 1950, Rhode, County Offaly) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer. Darby is best remembered for scoring an unexpected late goal that deprived Kerry of a 5-in-a-row in the 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final ...

scored a critical goal (worth three points) to give Offaly the lead. The referee then blew the final whistle, thus restricting Kerry to just the four.

Radio Kerry Radio Kerry is a full-service, licensed radio station that operates from the franchise area of County Kerry in Southwest Ireland. Radio Kerry was established in 1989 and began broadcasting on 14 July 1990. The station headquarters are in Tral ...

played the song in September 2018 when the county minor team did what the 1982 team could not. The song also featured in the documentary ''

Players of the Faithful ''Players of the Faithful'' is a documentary on Offaly's bid to stop Kerry becoming the first team to win five consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championships in 1982. Loosehorse were responsible for putting it together; it followed on f ...

'', which first aired on national television's

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

in December 2018. The national media referred to the 1982 song in the build-up to the

2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final The 2019 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 132nd final of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the culmination of the 2019 tournament, the top level of competition in Gaelic football. Reigning All-Ireland champi ...

, with

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

— bidding to do what Kerry had not in 1982 — meeting Kerry in the decider. Dublin did it; however, the song's lyrics refer specifically to Kerry...

References

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Song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

1982 songs Comedy songs Gaelic football music Kerry county football team