The 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was a

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 ki ...

match played at

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 h ...

on 16 September 1990 to determine the winners of the

1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 104th staging of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Gaelic Athletic Association's premier inter-county Gaelic football tournament. The championship began on 6 May 1990 and en ...

, the 104th season of the

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...

, a tournament organised by the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

for the champions of the four

provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Meath has been considered ...

. The final was contested by

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

of Munster and Meath of Leinster, with Cork winning by 0-11 to 0-9. For the third time in four years Cork faced Meath in the All-Ireland decider, as the reigning champions did battle with the champions of

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

. In the first half Cork had built up a nice lead before there plans were derailed somewhat. A pumped-up Colm O'Neill hit Meath's Mick Lyons and was dismissed from the field of play. In spite of this Cork still held a one-point lead at half-time. The second half was a dour struggle. Cork's strategy of isolating Meath's extra player worked well as Shay Fahy dominated midfield. The final score of 0-11 to 0-9 gave Cork the title. Cork's All-Ireland victory was their second in succession, the first and only time in their history that they retained the title. The win gave them their sixth All-Ireland title over all and put them fourth in their own right on the all-time roll of honour. Meath were appearing in their first All-Ireland final since they triumphed in 1988. Defeat at the hands of Cork was the first of back-to-back All-Ireland defeats for the Royal County. 1990 is regarded as the greatest year in the history of the GAA in Cork. In winning the All-Ireland against Meath, Cork achieved a rare

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

as the Cork senior

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

team had earlier claimed the

All-Ireland 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 ...

title against

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 ...

. It also marked the 100th anniversary of Cork achieving their previous double. Cork's

Denis Walsh Denis Walsh (born 22 January 1965 in Ballynoe, County Cork) is an Irish hurling manager and former dual player of Gaelic games. He is a former manager of the Cork senior hurling team. An effective dual player, Walsh had a successful playing ...

, as a substitute, and

Teddy McCarthy Thaddeus "Teddy" McCarthy (born 1 July 1965) is an Irish former hurler and Gaelic footballer who played as a midfielder at senior level for the Cork county football and hurling teams. In an eleven-year senior inter-county playing career, McCa ...

became dual All-Ireland medallists once again; however, McCarthy's achievement was the most spectacular of all. As a member of the starting fifteen in both codes he became the first player in the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association to win All-Ireland medals in both codes in the same season. It is a record which still stands. The referee played 9 seconds of additional time.

Match

Details

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, 1990

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 Cork county football team matches Meath county football team matches