1966 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
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The 1966 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 79th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1966 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football 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 ...
. It was the third of three All-Ireland football titles won by Galway in the 1960s, which made them joint "team of the decade" with Down who also won three. However, Galway's three 1960s titles came consecutively. In 2018,
Martin Breheny use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , nationality = , other_names = , siglum = , citizenship = , ...
listed this as the ninth greatest All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Breheny, Martin. "Martin Breheny's Greatest All-Ireland Finals". ''
Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
''. 1 September 2018, p. 12–13.


Route to the final

Galway, though reigning champions, approached the game as underdogs. Their opponents Meath had seen off Down in the semi-final.


Pre-game

The teams kneeled to kiss the bishop's ring before the game got underway.


Match


Summary

This was to be, if not the battle of the century, at least the final of the decade. That was the assessment from all the pundits as Galway geared up to secure their third All-Ireland title in a row, against Meath. The credentials of both sides were perfect: Galway unbeaten since the 1963 All-Ireland final with Dublin against a Meath team that had put in an incredible second-half performance against Down to win by ten points. The champions, with the breeze behind them, made the early running. With 13 minutes gone they had strolled to a three-point lead. Despite the best efforts of the Meath side to keep the score that low against a Galway side who had the momentum, the crucial score came not long after. Cyril picked up possession and played the ball across the Meath goal. As it bounced across the face of John McCormack's goal,
Mattie McDonagh Matthew "Mattie" McDonagh (1936 – 11 April 2005) was an Irish Gaelic footballer who played for his local club Ballygar and at senior level for the Galway county team from 1956 until 1968. McDonagh later served as manager of the Galway t ...
came steaming in and planted the ball into the back of the net with relative ease. It was Galway's first goal in their "Three In A Row" assault. Thirty seconds later,
Liam Sammon Liam Sammon (born 1946 in Galway) is an Irish former Gaelic football manager, coach, writer and former player. He played football with his local clubs Father Griffins and Salthill-Knocknacarra and was a member of the senior Galway county tea ...
pointed followed quickly by another from Seamus Leydon. This left it at 1–05 to no score in favour of Galway. Murty Sullivan got Meath off the mark but at half-time, they trailed by eight points, 1–6 to 0–1. A reshuffled Meath team re-opened the second half with promise, but the revival they sought, desperately needing a goal, never looked like coming. Meath outscored Galway in the second half but it was merely an irrelevant statistic as the Tribesmen had made it "Three In A Row", with a six-point victory. The ingredients were there for a thrilling contest were there for a thrilling contest, but on the day it all came apart for Meath and remained the same for a Galway side who made GAA history with their performance.
Mattie McDonagh Matthew "Mattie" McDonagh (1936 – 11 April 2005) was an Irish Gaelic footballer who played for his local club Ballygar and at senior level for the Galway county team from 1956 until 1968. McDonagh later served as manager of the Galway t ...
scored a goal after 21 minutes and Galway led 1–6 to 0–1 at half-time, and went on to complete a three-in-a-row. McDonagh's goal came 11th in RTÉ's 2005 series '' Top 20 GAA Moments''.


Details


Beitzel

Harry Beitzel Henry John "Harry" Beitzel (6 April 1927 – 13 August 2017) was an Australian football umpire, print, radio and television sports broadcaster and media personality best known for his contribution to Australian rules football. Early sporting li ...
, an Australian credited with pioneering the development of the composite rules sport
International rules football International rules football ( ga, Peil na rialacha idirnáisiunta; also known as international rules in Australia and compromise rules or Aussie rules in Ireland) is a team sport consisting of a hybrid of football codes, which was developed ...
, is said to have drawn inspiration from watching the 1966 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final on television, and in 1967 sent an Australian side – "The
Galah The galah (; ''Eolophus roseicapilla''), also known as the pink and grey cockatoo or rose-breasted cockatoo, is the only species within genus ''Eolophus'' of the cockatoo family. Found throughout Australia, it is among the most common of the c ...
s" – to play the game against an Irish side. Beitzel followed this up the next year with The Australian Football World Tour, a six-match series with games played against Irish teams in Ireland, the UK and United States. (The 1968 Galahs also played exhibition matches of Australian Rules throughout the tour, including a game in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...
,
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
.)'Croke Park had never seen anything like it'


References

{{All-Ireland Senior Football Championship All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, 1966
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 Galway county football team matches Meath county football team matches