National Forum

Kerry V Roscommon 1980

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Would be an interesting documentary to compare intercounty coaching, conditioning and lifestyles of 1980 to 2019. Maybe the football is better but the players back then looked like they enjoyed their football and life a bit more than the modern footballer."
Without a doubt, but you could say the same about most sports, even those that have been professional for years. Training and preparation continues to evolve to improve performance, and it rarely means more fun for the athlete. A huge amount is now based around recovery, which is extremely important, but also very repetitive and boring. Rugby for example now involves hours of meticulous video analysis for players, much of which would be very monotonous.
However, what we know is that if any GAA team today trained like a team in 1980, they'd be beaten out the gate. Trying to find the balance between doing what is necessary and ensuring it's still enjoyable for the players is a big challenge, but also a very important one. A player's sense of enjoyment will have a bearing on his motivation and also his performance.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2042 - 25/07/2019 14:58:41    2216327

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Was at the game - we had the ability and the chances to win the game but, in truth, like most teams at the time, we didn't have the belief that we could beat Kerry. Lifted my young son over the turnstiles, wouldn't happen nowadays.

neverright (Roscommon) - Posts: 1648 - 25/07/2019 14:59:02    2216328

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We lost the 1980 All-Ireland Final in 1979.We lost the Semi Final in '79 to a declining Dublin team by a point Roscommon should have won that game.We'd have been well beaten by Kerry if we had qualified for the 1979 Final but the Ros players would have gained the experience of playing in an All-Ireland Final and that experience would have got us over the line in 1980.That's how Offaly did it.Well beaten by Kerry in the 1981 All-Ireland Final but back to beat Kerry in the 1982 Final.

endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2164 - 25/07/2019 19:55:17    2216482

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Replying To DUBJOHN:  "Agreed! They're not called the cute Kerry hoors for nothing!"
Maybe Spillane should have got an Oscar but he should have got a second medal for the way he stripped "The Jigger" O'Connor of the football at a crucial moment, in the second half, with the game on the line. A class piece of skill on a wet dirty day. Tackled from behind without fouling. Can still see it in my mind after all the years.

Gaa Fan (USA) - Posts: 749 - 25/07/2019 20:31:42    2216496

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Replying To neverright:  "Was at the game - we had the ability and the chances to win the game but, in truth, like most teams at the time, we didn't have the belief that we could beat Kerry. Lifted my young son over the turnstiles, wouldn't happen nowadays."
What anyone fails to mention is that one of the better Roscommon players had a bad day at the office.

Gaa Fan (USA) - Posts: 749 - 25/07/2019 20:33:37    2216497

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It was an All Ireland final between two quality sides played in difficult conditions. For posters too young to remember the 1980 final well think of the 2015 AI final and see what can happen when the weather ruins a final!

We missed out AI final appearances in years before when we left wins behind us v Armagh and Dublin, for the 1980 final our cause wasn't helped to be without two important players/forwards from our 1979 NFL Div 1 title winning team ( Sean Kilbride and Mickey Freyne) and Michael Finneran scorer of 5-20 that year had a real off day on frees.

The_analyser (Roscommon) - Posts: 3756 - 25/07/2019 20:48:29    2216508

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Replying To endgame:  "We lost the 1980 All-Ireland Final in 1979.We lost the Semi Final in '79 to a declining Dublin team by a point Roscommon should have won that game.We'd have been well beaten by Kerry if we had qualified for the 1979 Final but the Ros players would have gained the experience of playing in an All-Ireland Final and that experience would have got us over the line in 1980.That's how Offaly did it.Well beaten by Kerry in the 1981 All-Ireland Final but back to beat Kerry in the 1982 Final."
That's a good point. Even if Roscommon had beaten Armagh in '77 it would have been a good experience for them. My recollections of the 1980 final is that Roscommon got a dream start, Kerry didn't panic and the ref, who was from Monaghan, Seamus Murray was over fussy on a wet windy day that needed some common sense from the man in black It's also regarded that he favoured Kerry. It's weird looking back at those days because a Connacht or Ulster side only qualified for a final once every 3 years because Munster and Leinster (usually Kerry and Dublin) were so far ahead that any semi final against them ended up in defeat and usually a heavy one. No Connacht or Ulster team beat a Munster or Leinster team in a semi final from 1973 when Galway beat Offaly to 1991 when Down beat Kerry. That was 22 combined defeats.

FootblockREF (Monaghan) - Posts: 564 - 26/07/2019 08:47:24    2216627

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Replying To FootblockREF:  "That's a good point. Even if Roscommon had beaten Armagh in '77 it would have been a good experience for them. My recollections of the 1980 final is that Roscommon got a dream start, Kerry didn't panic and the ref, who was from Monaghan, Seamus Murray was over fussy on a wet windy day that needed some common sense from the man in black It's also regarded that he favoured Kerry. It's weird looking back at those days because a Connacht or Ulster side only qualified for a final once every 3 years because Munster and Leinster (usually Kerry and Dublin) were so far ahead that any semi final against them ended up in defeat and usually a heavy one. No Connacht or Ulster team beat a Munster or Leinster team in a semi final from 1973 when Galway beat Offaly to 1991 when Down beat Kerry. That was 22 combined defeats."
Interesting point. I remember that cycle well in the 80's - the only way a Connaught team would get to an AI Final was when they met an Ulster team in the semis.

Between Down's wins in 1968 and 1991 (That's 22 AI's!) only two Ulster teams got to the Final and that was Armagh who got hockeyed in ´77 and Tyrone in ´86. Ulster were nowhere and Connaight not far in front either with 6 appearances and no wins.

Whatever about Dublin's dominace now, surely that was a bigger crisis and over such a long period. Ireland was a different place of course. Not all of the changes in the GAA have been bad ones thankfully.

Sindar (Roscommon) - Posts: 348 - 26/07/2019 11:31:50    2216704

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I remember it as a poor game.Roscommon were too intent on being physical when if they concentrated on football they had the beating of Kerry.
I may be wrong but I think there were over 60 frees in the game.

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts: 983 - 26/07/2019 20:46:31    2216919

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