Great Performances in All Ireland Finals

[Maroon Manc]

I've been watching football since 1987 and was racking my brains to think of who has given the best performance in a final during the time.

Naturally the two I remember most are Fallon in 98 and Joyce in 2001 although both had had average 1st halfs and it would be fair to suggest Joyce was poor by his standards. Fallon kicked 3 fantastics points whilst Joyce kicked 9 points in the 2nd half with 5 form play including a spell where he kicked all Galways 8 points in a row, it was the first time any player had scored more than a point from play on Darren Fay and he asked Mark O'Reilly to swap straight after Joyce's 2nd point from play.

So who else has given inspirational performances in finals that a huge impact on the result?

[AZOffaly]

Maurice Fitz in 1997.

[Maroon Manc]

Maurice Fitz in 1997.

I'm not including performances against Mayo 

[shark]

Those 3 individual performances are probably the standout in my memory too. It's natural though to remember great forward performances rather than defensive or even midfield ones. Also, losing performances are rarely remembered. So for a great non-forward performance I'll go with Tohill in '93 and for losing with Flynn in '91 (6 points from play).

[muppet]

Canavan wasn't too shabby in 1995.

Liam McHale was everywhere in the drawn game in 1996.
Unfortunately so was some new lad called Darren Fay.

[J70]

Manus Boyle 1992. Was a sub in the semi and turned the game. Hit 0-9 in the final, including 0-5 from play. Should have scored a goal when he hit the crossbar, but later wisely opted to take his point near the end when through one on one on O'Leary. Took Mick Deegan to the cleaners. But then Manus was always a man for the big occasion, going back to AI U-21 and Vocational schools titles.

[Jinxy]

I've been watching football since 1987 and was racking my brains to think of who has given the best performance in a final during the time.

Naturally the two I remember most are Fallon in 98 and Joyce in 2001 although both had had average 1st halfs and it would be fair to suggest Joyce was poor by his standards. Fallon kicked 3 fantastics points whilst Joyce kicked 9 points in the 2nd half with 5 form play including a spell where he kicked all Galways 8 points in a row, it was the first time any player had scored more than a point from play on Darren Fay and he asked Mark O'Reilly to swap straight after Joyce's 2nd point from play.

So who else has given inspirational performances in finals that a huge impact on the result?

Nice to see some accuracy on this specific aspect of the 2001 final for a change.
Not as sexy as the whole 'Padraig Joyce kicked 20 points on Darren Fay' narrative though.
I remember thinking at half-time that Darren had him in his pocket.
The wheels came off the wagon all over the field in the second half.

[maigheo]

James Horan with 3 points from play in the drawn 1996 final and 5 points from play in the replay in a losing effort

[Cavan97]

Oisin McConville's 2nd half display after the penalty save in the first half in 2002

[Maroon Manc]

I've been watching football since 1987 and was racking my brains to think of who has given the best performance in a final during the time.

Naturally the two I remember most are Fallon in 98 and Joyce in 2001 although both had had average 1st halfs and it would be fair to suggest Joyce was poor by his standards. Fallon kicked 3 fantastics points whilst Joyce kicked 9 points in the 2nd half with 5 form play including a spell where he kicked all Galways 8 points in a row, it was the first time any player had scored more than a point from play on Darren Fay and he asked Mark O'Reilly to swap straight after Joyce's 2nd point from play.

So who else has given inspirational performances in finals that a huge impact on the result?

Nice to see some accuracy on this specific aspect of the 2001 final for a change.
Not as sexy as the whole 'Padraig Joyce kicked 20 points on Darren Fay' narrative though.
I remember thinking at half-time that Darren had him in his pocket.
The wheels came off the wagon all over the field in the second half.

I have only seen highlights since although this had reminded me to order a DVD of the game, from memory Galway should have been ahead at HT and missed some very easy scores. Meath never got going at all, listening to the Meaths players since on the radio and in papers I'm sure Boylan would prepare different if he had his time again. Galway were hungrier especially considering they knew they threw away an AI the year earlier when Kerry were gone but Galway just couldn't get ahead.

[thewobbler]

Brian McGuigan's performance in the 2005 All Ireland final was as good as anything that any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. Better than that of Fitz, Joyce or Fallon because he did absolutely everything right for the entire match, in every corner of the field.


Philly McMahon was absolutely exceptional in last year's decider.

[Jinxy]

I've been watching football since 1987 and was racking my brains to think of who has given the best performance in a final during the time.

Naturally the two I remember most are Fallon in 98 and Joyce in 2001 although both had had average 1st halfs and it would be fair to suggest Joyce was poor by his standards. Fallon kicked 3 fantastics points whilst Joyce kicked 9 points in the 2nd half with 5 form play including a spell where he kicked all Galways 8 points in a row, it was the first time any player had scored more than a point from play on Darren Fay and he asked Mark O'Reilly to swap straight after Joyce's 2nd point from play.

So who else has given inspirational performances in finals that a huge impact on the result?

Nice to see some accuracy on this specific aspect of the 2001 final for a change.
Not as sexy as the whole 'Padraig Joyce kicked 20 points on Darren Fay' narrative though.
I remember thinking at half-time that Darren had him in his pocket.
The wheels came off the wagon all over the field in the second half.

I have only seen highlights since although this had reminded me to order a DVD of the game, from memory Galway should have been ahead at HT and missed some very easy scores. Meath never got going at all, listening to the Meaths players since on the radio and in papers I'm sure Boylan would prepare different if he had his time again. Galway were hungrier especially considering they knew they threw away an AI the year earlier when Kerry were gone but Galway just couldn't get ahead.

Some oul Kerry woman definitely put a curse on us that year.

[Jinxy]

James Horan with 3 points from play in the drawn 1996 final and 5 points from play in the replay in a losing effort

I remember thinking, "Who's this lad?!" during the first game.
Kicking points from a mile out.

[westbound]

Brian McGuigan's performance in the 2005 All Ireland final was as good as anything that any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. Better than that of Fitz, Joyce or Fallon because he did absolutely everything right for the entire match, in every corner of the field.


Philly McMahon was absolutely exceptional in last year's decider.

I'd say it'd be difficult to find anything Maurice Fitz did wrong for the entire match in '97 either!

EDIT: Who is fitzmaurice?? Well spotted AZ!

[AZOffaly]

Or Maurice Fitz, although he did break Billy O'Shea's leg!