All-Ireland Gold - Wednesday 14th February

Plain of the Herbs · Post by **Plain of the Herbs** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 7:45 pm

ó tg4.ie
23:35
All-Ireland Gold
Cluiche Leath-Cheannais Peile na hÉireann idir Ciarraí agus Uíbh Fhailí ón bhliain 1980.

Will be worth a look. Plain of the Herbs' first time in Croke Park.

Matt Connor scored 2-9 and Kerry's two corner bcks were axed for the final. Kerry handpassed 3 out of four goals; Offaly kicked three out of four.

the bare biffo · Post by **the bare biffo** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:44 pm

Brilliant. I was at this game but have never seen it since. Matt Connor 2-9 and Gerry Carroll 2-1

Looking forward to it.

Bord na Mona man · Post by **Bord na Mona man** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 1:54 pm

A great idea for Valentine's night. I saw this match repeated a couple of year's ago.
Highly entertaining football. Though Offaly's defending was kamikaze that day.
I think Kerry had several one-on-one chances on Martin Furlong and in truth could have netted 6 or 7 goals.
Sean Lowry was full back and played a very roving role.
The final scoreline might be generous to Offaly, as Kerry were in the driving seat for most of the game.
Compared this to 2 years later, where Offaly were a much better drilled team and tactically well set up to counteract Kerry. The amount of basic errors were hugely reduced too.

However it was a great display by a 21 year old Matt Connor. Probably urban (or rural) legend, but apparently O'Dwyer resisted trying lots of players on Matt during the game, because he didn't want to dash their confidence for the final. I think it was one of the Spillanes (Tom or Mick) in particular who was taken to the cleaners by Matt and hung out to dry by Micko.

It was the beginning of a great era in Offaly GAA. The hurlers had just beaten to win the first ever Leinster title. The footballers had overtaken Dublin as the best team in Leinster are were now challengers in waiting for Kerry. Hopefully some day we can return to those heights!

The Biff · Post by **The Biff** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:18 pm

Bord na Mona man wrote: ... It was the beginning of a great era in Offaly GAA. The hurlers had just beaten to win the first ever Leinster title. The footballers had overtaken Dublin as the best team in Leinster are were now challengers in waiting for Kerry. Hopefully some day we can return to those heights!

I looked out the window and what did I see ?

So we dont have to wait for that to happen. Next stop ...

turk · Post by **turk** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:19 pm

I was at it - i remember it being fun as there was lots of scoring but kerry always were slightly more in control.
It's great though. Offaly are great lads. don't be knocking the lads, leap into them!!

Bord na Mona man · Post by **Bord na Mona man** » Fri Feb 09, 2007 5:29 pm

The Biff wrote: I looked out the window and what did I see ?

So we dont have to wait for that to happen. Next stop ...

Get your money down on an Offaly All Ireland double this year!

Plain of the Herbs · Post by **Plain of the Herbs** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 8:04 pm

Matt's first and last points were sublime. His two goals were bullets.

Kerry weren't long putting Offaly away when Offaly got the gap down to three points.

Offaly did a superb job to turn that around and beat Kerry within two years of that.