Anois ar TG 4

[5 Sams]

Kerry V Offaly 1980 AI semi...how good was Matt Connor....alright De Bomber, Egan and Sheehy were pretty special too but Matt was an 80s version of Mo Fitz.....discuss??

[Pangurban]

A class act sure enough Fivesams, but not in the same league as Paddy Doherty,the score getter supreme. Some talent on that field,nice to see them again

[Jack Dempsey]

The build on some of these guys was unreal. O'Connor did look the best forward on the pitch. Go down and pick up the ball in close contact and you were putting your future writing career in danger. Class..

[fearglasmor]

A class act sure enough Fivesams, but not in the same league as Paddy Doherty,the score getter supreme. Some talent on that field,nice to see them again

Matt Connor was in the same league as the best forwards that have ever played football. His ball control was unreal and don't forget his playing career ended at the young age of 24.

It was interesting to see the clash of two eras in that game. Offaly were still in early 70's mode with limited short handpassing and support play but favouring the first time long delivery which was more often than not poorly directed. This was especially the case with the lads who were on the 71/72 panels like Eugene Mulligan, Mick Wright, Kevin Kilmurray and Paddy Fenning. Kerry of course played their trademark controlled short passing all action game. For long periods Offaly won a huge amount of possession around mid field but their direct style (and lack of another scoring forward) meant they could not get anything like the same return Kerry did.

From an Offaly point of view it was interesting to see the changes from that team to the 1982 team, 4 backs, a midfielder and 2 forwards who werent on the field in 1980 plus a lot of positional changes and of course Seamus Darby as well.

Credit must be given to Eugene McGee. I think he took over Offaly in 1977, took three attempts to beat Dublin 78,79, 80 then three attempts to beat Kerry, 80, 81 and 82.

For those who think todays players are in a different league in fitness terms, I'm not sure there a lot lacking in those teams from a fitness perspective.

Maybe wasn't the most competitve game, specially in the second half, but great entertainment.

[lynchbhoy]

my first game of Gaelic football in Croke park.

What memories.

It was a great day then and a great game.

I also thought that this game was quite good by comparison to the standards of football in the late 70's and early 80's.
Fast , hard hitting , somewhat skillful and fantastic scores.
Most notable the superb Matt Connor.

[fearglasmor]

Just an aside, I was just how shit our current batch of commentators are compared to Micheál.

I particularly enjoyed how well he had Pat Spillane taped.
After kicking a bad wide, O'Hehir commented "theres Pat looking like his whole world was gone wrong........  and it was someone elses fault."

[parttimeexile]

I couldnt believe how fit the players were in that game.Matt connor was a great striker of the ball.Never seen anyone hit frees with such ease.And he was great from play to.

[Denn Forever]

Saw the game last night.  Brilliant!  Showing my age here
but was that kind of football more enjoyable to watch than todays
where people are immediately surrounmded and the ball passed
10 yards ala Baskeatball.  And both teams played this way although
Kerry had a little more finesse.  great to watch.

[AZOffaly]

Matt Connor was a hero of mine growing up in Offaly and being 7 years old in 1980. As some of ye know, I spend a good bit of my time down in South Kerry, and down there Matt is universally regarded as one of the best forwards ever to play the game. That's good enough for me.

It is an eternal shame that he was cut down in his prime, and it is heartbreaking to see him in his chair being wheeled in and out of provincial grounds around the country when Offaly are playing.

My own most poignant memory is about 4 years ago when Offaly played Louth in the Minor championship up in Ardee, in the spills of rain. Shane Lennon scored a hatful of goals to win the game the same day. I was chatting to Matt for a few minutes, and when I left him an old Louth Man came over to ask me 'Is that the great Matt Connor?'. When I told him it was indeed Matt, he asked me to bring him over and introduce him.

It was very touching, but sad, to see this old man pay his respects to one of the greats of the game, who, crazy as it may seem, probably never got to reach his peak.

Offaly football took 10 years to get itself back on track from Matt's accident.

[From the Bunker]

Matt Connor was Magic! One man show really, up front. Johnny Mooney was mighty in the air and clever, but not great in front of the posts. The game last night showed how kerry (with some fine Players) evolved the game into a thinking mans game. The old v the new. Out the door went the catch a kick (in hope of finding a player). The only high balls that were kicked in by kerry were to the Bomber. Support play, Passing the ball to the runner etc. This has to be admired and is often belittled. The hand pass goal was embarrassing to watch, now there was a basketball skill if ever you seen one and thankfully gone. A great Kerry team, and if you were lucky enough to have been around when they were strutting their skills you will have seen the best set of players ever! God they were so good that i remember a time when we thought they would never go away. They were the Steve Davis of Gaelic Football!