All-Ireland Finals... that nearly happened

[muppet]

Maybe not in the category of nearly happened, but a Down v Derry All Ireland final could have happened in 1994 had the back door been around then. Probably the two best teams in the country that year.

On that note...

1998 Galway v Mayo.

My money wouldn't have been on us. 

[rrhf]

Maybe not in the category of nearly happened, but a Down v Derry All Ireland final could have happened in 1994 had the back door been around then. Probably the two best teams in the country that year.

Tyrone had Derry weighed up by then. We would have took you. We were determined you would not double up... Still are

[ross4life]

1991 Roscommon v Down

In the AI semi final we were leading Meath by 5 points with 15 mins to go and missed at least 2-5 but ended up losing by one point.

1998 Galway campaign should have ended in Tuam v us but Mr Prior had other ideas. Would we have beaten Derry or Kildare? probably not as we tend to over celebrate Connacht title wins.

It is generally accepted if we had won the semi-final in 1979 (lost to Dublin by one point) we would have had an even better chance of winning the final in 1980.

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

Maybe not in the category of nearly happened, but a Down v Derry All Ireland final could have happened in 1994 had the back door been around then. Probably the two best teams in the country that year.

On that note...

1998 Galway v Mayo.

My money wouldn't have been on us. 

Not a hope, Mayo have a 100% victory record over the Heron Chokers in Croke Park. Do not fear the Maroon and White at HQ, there we have their number

[under the bar]

London v New York

[bigpaul]

Maybe not in the category of nearly happened, but a Down v Derry All Ireland final could have happened in 1994 had the back door been around then. Probably the two best teams in the country that year.

That final did happen in '94, they just played it at the start of the competition!!!

[magpie seanie]

I was just thinking about Fermanagh's big chance in 2004 to reach a first All Ireland final. And it got me thinking about All Ireland finals that nearly happened, if one (or two) losing semi finalist had actually won.

What would have been the most unusual AI final pairing?

Here are a few I thought of...

1992 - Donegal v Clare
1994 - Down v Leitrim1997 - Cavan v Offaly
2004 - Fermanagh v Derry

"Nearly happened" - sure Leitrim were destroyed in the semi final by Dublin nearly as badly as Mayo by Cork the year before. Connacht football was at a low ebb those days.

[ranch]

Down v Galway 1992..Hurling.

[Rossfan]

Is this the most pointless thread of all time?

[Fuzzman]

Yes Ross but its October and we're bored as we can't give out any more about Mayo.
I'm dragging the arse outta the Marsden v Jordan issue again instead