Séamus Darby (born 1950,

Rhode, County Offaly Rhode () is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is situated on the R400 at its junction with the R441 which leads to Edenderry, 12 km to the east. Rhode village is on an "island" of high ground surrounded by an expanse of raised bog w ...

) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer. Darby is best remembered for scoring an unexpected late goal that deprived

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 Count ...

of a 5-in-a-row in the 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. In 2005, it was voted the third greatest moment in GAA history.

Playing career

During his footballing career, Darby won

Leinster Senior Football Championship The Leinster Senior Football Championship, known simply as the Leinster Championship and shortened to Leinster SFC, is an annual inter-county Gaelic football competition organised by the Leinster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GA ...

titles with Offaly in 1972, 1973 and 1982, playing in various forward positions. He won his second All-Ireland medal in 1972 when Offaly defeated Kerry in the final. He had been an unused substitute in the 1971 final v Galway, Offaly's first-ever win. He was dropped from the county panel after the 1976 season. Darby was recalled to the Offaly team for the 1982 Leinster final, playing full-forward against

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. He pulled a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

in that match and missed the All-Ireland semi-final against

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

. His replacement Johnny Mooney played well in that match so Darby was left on the bench for the final. The 1982 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was a repeat of the previous year's encounter and was also significant in that a win for Kerry would give them an unprecedented fifth All-Ireland Final victory in a row. Kerry were winning by two points with two minutes to go when Darby — who had arrived on the field of play as a substitute, with instructions to stay forward and try for a goal — got behind his marker Tommy Doyle, caught a "high, lobbing, dropping ball", and scored one of the most famous goals of all time. It was his only kick of the match. Kerry fumbled the counterattack which allowed Offaly to win by one single point with a score of 1–15 to 0–17. In 2005, Darby's goal against Kerry was voted third in a poll to find the '' Top 20 GAA Moments''. The expression "to do a Séamus Darby" has been used in other fields. Darby's last match for Offaly was the Leinster semi-final against Dublin in 1984. He played club football for Rhode till 1986. He later played for

Edenderry Edenderry (; ) is a town in east County Offaly, Ireland. It is near the borders with Counties Kildare, Meath and Westmeath. The Grand Canal runs along the south of Edenderry, through the Bog of Allen, and there is a short spur to the town ...

in 1989, and for Borrisokane in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after t ...

in 1991.

Later life

The 1982 All-Ireland and Darby's part in it received renewed attention in 2010 when the Kilkenny hurlers were aiming to complete their own five-in-a-row, also never realised. Darby was interviewed for 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 ...

''. This aired in 2018 when Dublin's footballers had just won their fourth consecutive All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and would be bidding for their fifth in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. An episode of ''

Laochra Gael ''Laochra Gael'' (; "''Heroes of the Gaels''") is an Irish television programme. With the 2022 series its twentieth, the show profiles and celebrates some of the greatest names in Gaelic games (hurling, Gaelic football, ladies' Gaelic football an ...

'' dedicated to his life first aired on

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Seamus 1950 births Living people Offaly inter-county Gaelic footballers Rhode Gaelic footballers