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| Event | 1961 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship | ||||||
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| Date | 24 September 1961 | ||||||
| Venue | Croke Park, Dublin | ||||||
| Referee | L Maguire (Cavan) | ||||||
| Attendance | 90,556 | ||||||
The 1961 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 74th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1961 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. A crowd of 90,556 (a record at the old Croke Park) watched the match between Down and Offaly. [1]
The biggest crowd ever to attend Croke Park saw an explosive opening to the match - Offaly's Mick Casey and Peter Daly got goals to put them six points ahead with the match barely begun. Down recovered with three goals by half-time, and led by two points with minutes to go. Har Donnelly had a 21-yard free for Offaly, and took a point when a goal was really needed. [2]
This was Down's second appearance in an All-Ireland SFC final, and their second win from two. [3] It was the second of three All-Ireland SFC titles won by Down in the 1960s, which made them joint "team of the decade" with Galway who also won three. [4]
| Down | 3–6 – 2–8 | Offaly |
|---|---|---|
| J. McCartan, S. O'Neill 1-1, B. Morgan 1-0, P. Doherty & T. Hadden 0-2. | M. Casey, P. Daly 1-0, H. Donnelly 0-6, Ti Cullen & S. Brereton 0-1. |
