1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The 1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 53rd staging of Ireland's premier Gaelic football knock-out competition. Galway entered the championship as defending champions; however, they were beaten by Mayo in the Connacht final. Kerry were the winners.^[1][2][3]

1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Championship details
Teams	26
All-Ireland Champions
Winning team	Kerry (13th win)
Captain	Tom O'Connor
All-Ireland Finalists
Losing team	Meath
Captain	Matt Gilsenan
Provincial Champions
Munster	Kerry
Leinster	Meath
Ulster	Cavan
Connacht	Mayo
Championship statistics
← 1938 1940 →

Format

Provincial Championships format changes

Leinster Championship format change

2 Preliminary rounds instead of usual 1. Involved were Longford, Carlow, Westmeath & Wicklow of course the winners qualified for a quarterfinal to meet the stronger teams.

Munster Championship format change

In 1939 Kerry were given a bye to the Munster final, preliminary round was just a lone match between Cork vs Waterford, the winners of the game played in the quarterfinals along with Tipperary, Limerick and Clare, the winners of the game played in a lone Semifinal. The format was previously used in 1933 and was used again in 1941.

All Ireland semifinals system

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual in every 3rd year in rotation, with the four winners from Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster advancing to the All-Ireland semi-finals. The draw for these games was as follows:

• Munster V. Connacht
• Ulster V. Leinster

Provincial championships

Connacht Senior Football Championship

	Semifinal					Final
							Galway	0-03
		Mayo	2-10				Mayo	2-06
		Sligo	0-02

Mayo	2-10 – 0-2	Sligo
H Kenny (0-1), M Hannon (0-1), J Munnelly (1-3), P Moclair (1-1), T Hoban (0-4).

25 June 1939
Semifinal

Sligo

Attendance: 4,000

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Mayo	2-6 – 0-3	Galway
P Flannelly (0-3), M Hannon (0-1); J Munnelly (0-1), P Moclair (2-1).

16 July 1939
Final

St. Coman's Park, Roscommon

Attendance: 20,000

Leinster Senior Football Championship

	Round 1					Round 2
		Longford	0-17
	4-04	Westmeath
								3-04
						Carlow		2-05
	Carlow		2-08
	Wicklow		1-03

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
	Wexford		0-06
	Longford		0-04
						Wexford		1-07
						Louth		0-07
	Louth		3-04
	Dublin		1-06
											Wexford		2-03
											Meath		2-07
	Meath		1-09
	Laois		1-07
						Meath		2-10
						Kildare		2-08
	Kildare		2-11
	Offaly		1-01

Longford	0-17 – 4-4	Westmeath

7 May 1939
Round 1

Pearse Park, Longford

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Wicklow	1-3 – 2-8	Carlow

14 May 1939
Round 1

Enniscorthy

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Longford	3-4 – 2-5	Carlow

28 May 1939
Round 2

O'Moore Park, Portlaoise

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Louth	3-4 – 1-6	Dublin

28 May 1939
Quarterfinal

Páirc Tailteann, Navan

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Meath	1-9 – 1-7	Laois

4 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Cusack Park, Mullingar

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Kildare	2-11 – 1-1	Offaly
M.Geraghty 1-5, T.Dalton 1-1, P.Barry 0-2, M.Brosnan, P.Waters, H.Ennis 0-1.

11 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Nolan Park, Kilkenny

Referee: D Hamilton (Dublin)

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Wexford	0-6 – 0-4	Longford

11 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Croke Park, Dublin

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Wexford	1-7 – 0-7	Louth

2 July 1939
Semifinal

Croke Park, Dublin

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Meath	2-10 – 2-8	Kildare
		W.Ryan 1-1, M.Geraghty 0-3, P.Barry 1-0, P.Waters, R.Martin, M.Brosnan, T.Dalton 0-1.

9 July 1939
Semifinal

Drogheda Park, Drogheda

Attendance: 20,000

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Meath	2-7 – 2-3	Wexford
Tony Donnelly 0-5 (0-3f), Jim Clarke and Hugh Lynch 1-0 each, Matty Gilsenan and Jack Cummins 0-1 each		Tom Roche 1-2 and Joe Smyth 1-1

30 July 1939
Final

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: J. Dunne (Dublin)

Munster Senior Football Championship

	Preliminary round					Quarterfinals					Semifinal
						Clare		1-08, 2-14
						Limerick		2-05, 0-03
											Clare		1-06
											Tipperary		4-05
						Tipperary		1-09
	Cork		0-08			Cork		2-02
	Waterford		0-07

	Final
	Kerry		2-11
	Tipperary		0-04

Cork	0-8 – 0-7	Waterford
D. O’Connor & P. Barron (0-1), R. Harnedy (1-1), P.O’Sullivan (0-1), J. Young & R. Keily (0-2).

14 May 1939
Preliminary round

Fraher Field, Dungarvan

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Clare	1-8 – 2-5	Limerick

14 May 1939
Quarterfinal

Cusack Park, Ennis

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Tipperary	1-9 – 2-2	Cork
		D. Murphy & P. O’Sullivan (0-1).

4 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Mitchelstown

Referee: S. Moynihan (K)

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Clare	2-14 – 0-3	Limerick

18 June 1939
Quarterfinal Replay

The Cricket Field, Kilrush

Attendance: 2,000

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Tipperary	4-5 – 1-6	Clare

2 July 1939
Semifinal

Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

Referee: S. Moynihan (K)

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Kerry	2-11 – 0-4	Tipperary
Johnny Walsh (0-1), Tony McAuliffe (1-1), Charlie O'Sullivan (0-1), Mikey Lyne (0-3) & Murt Kelly (1-4).

23 July 1939
Final

Ned Hall Park, Clonmel

Referee: D. Goode (W)

Ulster Senior Football Championship

	Preliminary round
	Down		1-06
	Antrim		1-05

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
						Armagh		1-06, 1-06
						Monaghan		1-06, 0-02
											Armagh		2-04, 1-04
											Cavan		2-06, 2-03
	Donegal		0-06
	Down		1-01
						Donegal		0-04
						Cavan		5-12
	Cavan		4-11
	Tyrone		1-02

Down	1-6 – 1-5	Antrim

25 June 1939
Preliminary round

Corrigan Park, Belfast

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Cavan	4-11 – 1-2	Tyrone

25 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Omagh

Attendance: 3,000

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Donegal	0-6 – 1-1	Down

2 July 1939
Quarterfinal

Magheragallon

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Monaghan	1-6 – 1-6	Armagh

16 July 1939
Semifinal

St. Mary's Park, Castleblayney

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Monaghan	0-2 – 1-6	Armagh

23 July 1939
Semifinal Replay

St. Mary's Park, Castleblayney

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Cavan	5-12 – 0-4	Donegal

23 July 1939
Semifinal

Breffni Park, Cavan

Attendance: 8,000

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Cavan	2-6 – 2-4	Armagh

6 August 1939
Final

St. Mary's Park, Castleblayney

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Cavan	2-3 – 1-4	Armagh

15 August 1939
Final Replay

Croke Park, Dublin

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

	Semifinals					Final
	1M	Kerry	0-04, 3-08
	1C	Mayo	0-04, 1-04
						1M	Kerry	2-05
						1L	Meath	2-03
	1L	Meath	1-09
	1U	Cavan	1-01

Kerry	0-4 – 0-4	Mayo
Sean Brosnan (0-2), Charlie O'Sullivan (0-1) & Murt Kelly (0-1).		P Flannelly (0-1), J Carney (0-1) & T Hoban (0-2, one free).

13 August 1939
Semifinal

Croke Park, Dublin

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Meath	1-9 – 1-1	Cavan

20 August 1939
Semifinal

Croke Park, Dublin

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Kerry	3-8 – 1-4	Mayo
P. Kennedy(0-1), J. G. O'Gorman (0-2), S. Brosnan (0-1), J. Walsh (1-1), T. Landers (0-2), D. Spring (1-0) & C. O'Sullivan (1-1).		H Kenny (0-1), P Laffey (0-2), J Munnelly (1-0) & T Hoban (0-1).

10 September 1939
Semifinal Replay

Croke Park, Dublin

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Main article: 1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

Kerry	2-5 – 2-3	Meath
Murt Kelly (0-2), Johnny Walsh (0-1), Dan Spring (2-1) & Tim Landers (0-1).

24 September 1939
Final

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 46,828

Referee: J Flaherty (Offaly)

Championship statistics

Miscellaneous

• Meath win their second Leinster Title first since 1895.
• Kerry are now one behind Dublin with All Ireland titles.
• There were a number of first-time championship meetings; There were 2 first time championship meetings in the All Ireland Series at first in the semifinal stage a first meeting between Meath vs Cavan while the second was All Ireland final was the first championship meeting of Kerry vs Meath.

References

1. "Football Results 1911 - 1940 | the Official Website of the GAA". Archived from the original on 21 March 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)