2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

2002 All-Ireland Football Final

Event

2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Armagh	Kerry

1-12	0-14

Date

22 September 2002

Venue

John Bannon (Kildare)

Attendance

c.80,000

The 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 115th All-Ireland Final and showpiece game of the 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship which began on 5 May 2002. It took place at Croke Park on 22 September 2002.

The final, which was a replay of the 1953 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final, involved the teams from Kerry and Armagh. Kerry were attempting to win their 33rd All-Ireland whilst Armagh, competing in a final on only the third occasion were trying to capture the championship for the first time.

Road to the Final

Kerry were at the time, and remain, the most successful county in terms of number of championships won. Armagh on the other hand, whilst having dominated Ulster for the last number of years, had never gone the whole way to capturing the Sam Maguire Cup. The two counties last championship meeting was in the 2000 All-Ireland Semi-Final, the first game ending in a draw and the Kerry going on to win the replay and subsequently the Championship.

Armagh's campaign started in St. Tiernach's Park, Clones where they drew Tyrone 1-12 each, Armagh won the replay a week later 2-13 to 0-16. In the Ulster Semi-final they overran Fermanagh by double scores 0-16 to 1-05 and the Ulster Final saw them play Donegal on 7 July, a match which they won 1-14 to 1-10.

Kerry's provincial campaign was not as successful however, losing to Cork in the semi-final 0-15 to 1-09. As a result, they entered Round 2 of the All-Ireland Qualifiers and subsequently dismissed Wicklow 5-15 to 0-07. The next round saw them face Fermanagh, who had already been defeated by Armagh. Fermanagh again proved impotent as Kerry steamrolled them 2-15 to 0-04. Kildare, their opponents in the fourth and final Qualifier game were beaten double scores 2-10 to 1-05.

All-Ireland Series

Armagh faced Sligo, the beaten Connacht finalists, in the All-Ireland Quarter Final. The first game in Croke Park ended in a 2-09 to 0-15 draw leading many pundits, especially Pat Spillane to believe that Armagh would continue to falter on the Croke Park stage. This was not helped by the fact that Armagh won the replay in Navan.

Meeting Leinster Champions Dublin in the semi-final on 1 September would be Armagh's biggest test to date. With the game level 0-06 to 0-06 at the interval[^[1]] Armagh and Dublin traded scores throughout the second half with neither team having more than a two-point lead at any time, except the brief thirty or so seconds between Armagh's goal and Dublin's almost immediate response. With the game hanging in the balance Armagh's fragile lead was threatened by a free-kick, taken by Dublin star Ray Cosgrove, which ultimately hit the post sending Dublin crashing out and Armagh through to their first final since 1977 by a score of 1-14 to 1-13.

Kerry faced reigning All-Ireland and Connacht Champions Galway in their quarter finals, dismissing the holders 2-17 to 1-12. In a replay of the Munster semi-final Kerry again faced Cork in the All-Ireland equivalent, this time beating the Lee-siders convincingly 3-19 to 2-07.

The Final

Armagh v Kerry

22 September 2002
Final

Armagh	1-12 - 0-14	Kerry
O McConville 1-2 S McDonnell, R Clarke, D Marsden 0-3 each, J McEntee 0-1	Report	D O Cinneide 0-5, M F Russell 0-3, C Cooper, L Hassett 0-2 each, E Fitzmaurice, E Brosnan 0-1 each

Croke Park, Dublin
Referee: J. Bannon (Longford)

First Half

Stephen McDonnell opened the scoring for Armagh in the second minute and Kerry forward Mike Frank Russell replied a minute later. McDonnell scored again for Armagh and Ronan Clarke added a third. With Kerry two points down scores from Colm Cooper, Eoin Brosnan and Russell gave Kerry a one-point lead after 15 minutes. Ronan Clarke pulled the game level for Armagh before two points from Dara Ó Cinnéide and a point apiece for Eamonn Fitzmaurice and Liam Hassett put some daylight between the teams. After trading scores for a while Armagh were five points down when Armagh forward Óisin McConville was pulled down by three Kerry defenders under the Canal End and given a penalty however Armagh hopes were dashed as a poor kick was saved by Kerry 'keeper Declan O'Keeffe. A point from Armagh man Diarmuid Marsden gave the Orchard Boys a small glimmer of hope but they went in trailing at the break 0-11 to 0-07.

Second Half

Armagh were late to arrive on the pitch and kept the Kerry team waiting almost 5 minutes as they received a spirited team talk from manager and defeated 1977 finalist Joe Kernan. Kernan showed the team the memento^[2] he had received as a player in the '77 final after Armagh were defeated by Dublin and warned the players that they would face a similar fate if they failed to turn the game around.

Marsden and Ó Cinnéide again traded points and a free kick from McConville reduced the deficit to three. Hassett and McConville scored and the Armaghman converted a 45-metre free, Kerry's last score of the day came as Ó Cinnéide pointed again on 54 minutes.

In the 55th minute McConville charged through the Kerry back-line, played a one-two with team-mate Paul McGrane and buried the ball past O'Keeffe in the Kerry net sending Hill 16 into uproar and reducing Kerry's lead to a solitary point. Scores from Ronan Clarke and Steven McDonnell, who had scored the first point of the day, were enough to give Armagh the lead for the first time since the opening stages of the game. Armagh held on for the last ten minutes and that was enough to give the Orchard County their first Championship.

Aftermath

Two weeks previously at the Hurling Final the Liam MacCarthy Cup was awarded to Kilkenny on a podium in the centre of the pitch whilst Cliff Richard's "Congratulations" was played over the public address system. On John Bannon's final whistle Armagh fans were determined that their first All-Ireland win would not be celebrated in the same way and thousands encroached onto the pitch, many climbing the fences from the Hill 16 end where McConville had scored his goal until stewards relented and opened the gates. Armagh captain Kieran McGeeney lifted the Sam Maguire from the Hogan Stand to a sea of orange and white and dedicated the win to the long-suffering Armagh fans whose hopes had been dashed on so many occasions over the years.

References

↑ http://www.rte.ie/sport/2002/0901/armagh.htmllink title
↑ "Joe Meets Sam" by Jerome Quinn - Kernan stated that he showed the team his wooden runners's up memento at half time

Armagh – 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Champions (1st title)

1 B. Tierney
2 E. McNulty
3 J. McNulty
4 F. Bellew
5 A. O'Rourke
6 K. McGeeney (c)
7 A. McCann
8 J. Toal
9 P. McGrane
10 P. McKeever
11 J. McEntee
12 O. McConville
13 S. McDonnell
14 R. Clarke
15 D. Marsden

Subs used: B. O'Hagan for J. McEntee; T. McEntee for P. McKeever

Subs not used: P. Hearty; K. Hughes; C. O'Rourke; P. Loughran; J. Donalson; B. Duffy; G. Reid; P. McCormack; S. Maxwell; P. Duffy; C. O'Neill; K. McElvanna; S. Smyth

Manager: J. Kernan

Kerry – 2002 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship runners-up

1 D. O'Keeffe 2 M. Ó Sé 3 S. Moynihan 4 M. McCarthy 5 T. Ó Sé 6 É. Fitzmaurice 7 J. Sheehan 8 D. Ó Sé (c) 9 D. Daly 10 S. O'Sullivan 11 E. Brosnan 12 L. Hassett 13 M. F. Russel 14 D. Ó Cinnéide 15 C. Cooper Subs A. Mac Gearailt T. O'Sullivan B. O'Shea J. Crowley Manager P. Ó Sé

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Trophy Leinster Connacht Munster Ulster Records and statistics Winning captains Winning managers Winning players Losing players Winning teams

Seasons	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Finals	1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Connacht Championship Leinster Championship Munster Championship Ulster Championship

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