The 1999 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 112th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the

1999 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The 1999 Bank of Ireland All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 113th edition of the GAA's premier Gaelic football competition. The championship began on 9 May 1999 and ended on 26 September 1999. Galway entered the championship as d ...

, 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 ...

. Meath captained by

Graham Geraghty Graham Geraghty (born 17 May 1973), is a former Gaelic footballer who played at senior level for the Meath county team. While still an inter-county player, he stood for the Fine Gael political party at the 2007 Irish general election; he was n ...

defeated

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 ...

to claim the last All-Ireland football final of the Millennium.

Pre-match

Meath had "unquestionably" played more key games at Croke Park in the 1990s than any other Leinster county. Cork's

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín Seán Óg Ó hAilpín (; born 22 May 1977) is a Fijian-Irish hurler and Gaelic footballer. In an inter-county playing career that spanned three decades, Ó hAilpín played for the Cork senior hurling and football teams, winning major honour ...

went into the match aiming to emulate

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, McC ...

's achievement of winning two senior All-Ireland championship medals in the same season.

Match

Meath won by three points, recovering from the double blow of a penalty miss and the concession of a spectacular Joe Kavanagh goal at the start of the second half to eventually take control and win in style. It was Trevor Giles that missed the penalty.

Kevin O'Dwyer Kevin O'Dwyer (born 1973 in Skibbereen, County Cork) is an Irish former Gaelic footballer. He played for his local club O'Donovan Rossa and was a member of the Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoy ...

, in the Cork goal, saved the penalty which was low to his left. If Giles had scored, Meath would have been two goals clear—Cork counterattacked, scored a point, then a goal. Cork had almost 60% of the possession and were in control of the game for most of the first half, yet still lost. The average age of the Cork team was just over 23. Trevor Giles scored a crucial 45 eleven minutes from the end; the score put Meath one point ahead.

captained Meath to victory and raised the Sam Maguire Cup aloft. The manager of the Meath team that day was Sean Boylan. Giles was viewed as "dictating the shape of the large picture like a director of epic movies." The performance of Meath's Mark O'Reilly was also praised. "Some of the widest wides ever seen in Croke Park this century" occurred during the game. Cork player

Joe Kavanagh Joe Kavanagh (born 27 February 1973) is an Irish sportsperson. He played Gaelic football with his local club Nemo Rangers and was a member of the Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant produ ...

said it was as bad as the

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

defeat.

Details

Legacy

Meath's second All-Ireland football title of the decade following their success in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, they were joint "team of the decade" for the 1990s with Down who won two titles in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. Meath footballer

Cormac Murphy Cormac Murphy (born 21 April 1993) is an Irish hurler who plays for Cork Premier Championship club Mallow and at inter-county level with the Cork senior hurling team. He currently plays as a right wing-forward, but can also be deployed as a ...

, who afterwards expressed his relief that he had not retired before the game, said "I don't know. I don't think this achievement will make us team of the nineties. You have Down, you have Cork again, there have been a lot of good teams. Ask me again this time next year." This was the last All-Ireland SFC final to be held with the old Hogan Stand in place at Croke Park.

References

{{All-Ireland Senior Football Championship All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, 1999

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