History of The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship - 1979 To 1981 - Kilkenny Bounce Back While Galway and Offaly Make History

Kilkenny Bounce Back While Galway and Offaly Make History

Cork's bid for a record-equalling fourth All-Ireland title in-a-row fell short when the team were beaten by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final. Because of this the men from the west advanced to the championship decider where Kilkenny were waiting. Unfortunately, the last final of the seventies turned out to be the least exciting of the decade. Galway goalkeeper Séamus Shinnors had an absolute nightmare of a game. A 70-yards free by Liam 'Chunky' O’Brien after just four minutes dipped, hit off Shinnors and ended up in the Galway net. Galway fought back and went two points up twelve minutes into the second half courtesy of a Noel Lane goal, however, they failed to score for the rest of the game. Four minutes before the end of the game another long-range free for Kilkenny ended up in the net behind Shinnors. It was a score which summed up the day for Galway as Kilkenny went on to win by 2-12 to 1-8

In 1980 Galway reached the All-Ireland final for a second year in-a-row with Munster champions Limerick providing the opposition. An exciting championship decider followed. Bernie Forde and P.J. Molloy goals for Galway meant that the men from the west led by 2-7 to 1-5 at half-time. Éamonn Cregan single-handedly launched the Limerick counter-attack in the second-half. Over the course of the game he scored 2-7, including an overhead goal and a point in which he showed the ball to full-back Conor Hayes and nonchalantly drove the ball over the bar. It was not enough to stem the tide and Galway went on to win the game. It was the county’s first All-Ireland title since 1923 and the celebrations surpassed anything ever seen in Croke Park. It took captain Joe Connolly ten minutes to reach the rostrum in the Hogan Stand to collect the Liam McCarthy Cup, however, once there he delivered one of the most famous acceptance speeches of all-time. Delivered through his native Irish, Connolly was clearly overcome with emotion as he finished:

In 1981 the hurling records continued to tumble as the All-Ireland final was contested by Galway and Offaly. An exciting game developed between these two breakthrough hurling teams with both sides exchanging tit-for-tat scores. After fourteen minutes Pat Carroll scored the opening goal of the game for Offaly, however, neither side built up a strong lead. Straight after the interval goalkeeper Damien Martin was doing great work when he batted out an almost certain Galway goal. With just over twenty minutes left in the game Galway led by six points, however, the team failed to score for the rest of the match. Offaly, on the other hand, ate into this lead. Johnny Flaherty’s hand-passed goal with three minutes was the deciding score of the game. At the full-time whistle Offaly were the winners by 2-12 to 0-15. Like the championship decider of twelve months earlier, there were great scenes of jubilation as Offaly claimed the Liam McCarthy Cup for the very first time in their history.