1980 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

The 1980 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 93rd All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1980 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

1980 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

Event	1980 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Kerry Roscommon 1–9 (12) 1–6 (9)
Date	21 September 1980
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Referee	Seamus Murray (Monaghan)[1]
Attendance	63,854
← 1979 1981 →

Roscommon had beaten Armagh in their semi-final.^[2]

Roscommon went five points up early on, John 'Jigger' O'Connor getting a goal after 35 seconds. Mikey Sheehy pegged a goal back and in a very scrappy game, (64 frees) the more experienced Kerry team ran out three-point victors.^[3]

Towards the end of the first half, Kerry player Pat Spillane lay down injured and referee Seamus Murray tried to raise him from the ground. Commentator Michael O'Hehir also doubted the authenticity of Spillane's injury, in remarks that angered the Kerry County Board.^[1]

Kerry completed a three-in-a-row sequence of titles; Tom Cryan wrote in the Irish Independent: "The first half has to be one of the worst ever seen in an All-Ireland final", Donal Carroll wrote in the same publication: "The statistics are chillingly disturbing in the awarding of 64 frees — 41 to Kerry — and six bookings, three to each side – made an utter shambles of what should have been an interesting trial of strength"; in 2022, Martin Breheny listed it among "five of the worst" All-Ireland SFC finals since 1972.^[4]

This was the first of five All-Ireland football titles won by Kerry in the 1980s.^[5]

Match details

21 September 1980 Final	Kerry	1-9 – 1-6	Roscommon	Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 63,854 Referee: Seamus Murray (Monaghan)
	M Sheehy 1-6, J O'Shea 0-1, G Power 0-1, P Spillane 0-1.		J O'Connor 1-2, D Earley 0-1, S Hayden 0-1, J O'Gara 0-1, M Finneran 0-1.

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Kerry

Roscommon

References

1. "O Hehir criticised for Spillane comments". The Kerryman. 11 November 2010. Spillane went down injured before half-time and Seamus Murray, the Monaghan referee, was seen making several attempts to get Spillane off the turf.
2. Breheny, Martin (24 June 2010). "Death of Dermot Earley". Irish Independent. Retrieved 24 June 2010. Dermot Earley pictured with his son David after Roscommon beat Armagh in the 1980 All-Ireland football semi-final at Croke Park.
3. High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.
4. Breheny, Martin (9 August 2022). "Five of the worst All-Ireland football finals since 1972". Irish Independent.
5. "Kerry on honour roll". Irish Independent. 14 September 2009. Retrieved 14 September 2009.