1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

Event	1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Cork Meath 0–11 0–9
Date	16 September 1990
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Referee	Paddy Russell (Tipperary) [1]
Attendance	65,723
← 1989 1991 →

The 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was a Gaelic football match played at Croke Park on 16 September 1990 to determine the winners of the 1990 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the 104th season of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, a tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association for the champions of the four provinces of Ireland. The final was contested by Cork of Munster and Meath of Leinster, with Cork winning by 0–11 to 0–9. ^{[2] [3]}

Match

Summary

For the third time in four years Cork faced Meath in an All-Ireland SFC decider, as the reigning champions did battle with the champions of 1987 and 1988. In the first half, Cork had built up a nice lead before there plans were derailed somewhat. A pumped-up Colm O'Neill hit Meath's Mick Lyons, and was dismissed from the field of play. In spite of this, Cork still held a one-point lead at half-time.

The second half was a dour struggle. Cork's strategy of isolating Meath's extra player worked well as Shay Fahy dominated midfield. The final score of 0–11 to 0–9 gave Cork the title.

Cork's All-Ireland SFC final victory was the second in succession, the first and only time in the team's history to have retained the title. The win gave the team a sixth All-Ireland SFC title overall, and put them fourth in their own right on the all-time roll of honour.

Meath were appearing in a first All-Ireland SFC final since they triumphed in 1988. Defeat at the hands of Cork was the first of back-to-back All-Ireland SFC final defeats for the Royal County.

1990 is regarded as the greatest year in the history of the GAA in Cork. In winning the All-Ireland SFC title against Meath, Cork achieved a rare double, as the Cork senior hurling team had earlier claimed the All-Ireland SHC title against Galway. ^[4] It also marked the 100th anniversary of Cork achieving their previous double.

Cork's Denis Walsh, as a substitute, and Teddy McCarthy became dual All-Ireland medallists once again; however, McCarthy's achievement was the most spectacular of all. As a member of the starting fifteen in both codes he became the first player in the history of the Gaelic Athletic Association to win All-Ireland medals in both codes in the same season. It is a record which still stands.

The referee played 9 seconds of additional time. ^[5]

Details

16 September 1990

15:15 IST

Cork	0–11 – 0–9	Meath
S Fahy (0–4), L Tompkins (0–4), M McCarthy (0–2), P McGrath (0–1)	Report	B Stafford (0–6), B Flynn (0–1), C Coyle (0–1), D Beggy (0–1)

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 65,723

Referee: Paddy Russell (Tipperary)

Cork

Meath

1 John Kerrins 2 Tony Nation 3 Steven O'Brien 4 Niall Cahalane 5 Mick Slocum 6 Conor Counihan 7 Barry Coffey (c) 8 Danny Culloty 9 Shea Fahy 10 Dave Barry 11 Larry Tompkins 12 Teddy McCarthy 13 Paul McGrath 14 Colm O'Neill 15 Mick McCarthy Substitutes: 16 Michael Maguire 17 Colman Corrigan 18 Tony Davis 19 Paddy Hayes 20 John O'Driscoll 21 John Cleary 22 Jimmy Kerrigan 23 Denis Walsh 24 Mark O'Connor Manager: Billy Morgan

1 Donal Smyth 2 Robbie O'Malley 3 Mick Lyons 4 Terry Ferguson 5 Brendan Reilly 6 Kevin Foley 7 Martin O'Connell 8 Liam Hayes 9 Gerry McEntee 10 David Beggy 11 P.J. Gillic 12 Colm Brady 13 Colm O'Rourke 14 Brian Stafford 15 Bernard Flynn Substitutes: Colm Coyle Joe Cassells Tommy Dowd Manager: Seán Boylan

References

1. Russell, Adrian (16 September 2020). "The Double 30 years on: 'When Paddy Russell blew the whistle, the roar was ferocious'". Irish Examiner .
2. Lyons, Tom (18 August 2007). "Cork v Meath here we go again !". The Southern Star. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
3. "Cork v Meath: Latest chapter in an old rivalry". Irish Independent. 15 August 2007. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
4. "The Double 30 years on - Part 1: 'Sometimes you had to be a little bit nasty'". Irish Examiner. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
5. Moran, Seán (11 September 2019). "Will time be on Dublin's side once more?". The Irish Times . Retrieved 11 September 2019. If referee David Gough had played as little injury-time as his predecessor PJ McGrath in the 1982 final, Dean Rock would never have had the opportunity to equalise in the 74th minute. McGrath added just 35 seconds of additional time and this was not simply because there were fewer stoppages – it was common practice. Randomly chosen finals – at five-year intervals – in the decades that followed indicate that as little as nine seconds in 1990 and 40 seconds in 2000 (drawn match) were added on for injury-time in those football All-Irelands.