National Forum

Greatest Football Upsets Of All Time

(Oldest Posts First)

Following on from Meath beating Dublin in the Leinster semi-final, I see some people are calling it the greatest shock of all time. Well, a while back I asked what was the greatest hurling upset of all time, and now it's football's turn. I disagree with Meath beating Dublin being the greatest by any stretch, but I might suggest Clare beating Kerry in the 1992 Munster final, Division 4 Longford beating Division 1 Mayo in the qualifiers in 2010, and the Leitrim U-21s beating All-Ireland champions Galway in the 2014 Connacht Championship. Throw in London's (Leitrim x2, Sligo and Fermanagh I think) and New York's wins in the championship and New York winning the National Football League a few times and you've got something.

What do you guys think?

Tacaí Liatroma (Leitrim) - Posts: 1165 - 01/05/2025 00:20:59    2605893

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Replying To Tacaí Liatroma:  "Following on from Meath beating Dublin in the Leinster semi-final, I see some people are calling it the greatest shock of all time. Well, a while back I asked what was the greatest hurling upset of all time, and now it's football's turn. I disagree with Meath beating Dublin being the greatest by any stretch, but I might suggest Clare beating Kerry in the 1992 Munster final, Division 4 Longford beating Division 1 Mayo in the qualifiers in 2010, and the Leitrim U-21s beating All-Ireland champions Galway in the 2014 Connacht Championship. Throw in London's (Leitrim x2, Sligo and Fermanagh I think) and New York's wins in the championship and New York winning the National Football League a few times and you've got something.

What do you guys think?"
I dont think Meath winnibg was a shock.A surprise yes but not a shock.Clare beating Kerry in 92 Munster final was a huge shock and younger posters might not realisethat Donegal beating Dublin in 1992 final was a big shock. Sligo besting Kildare in the noughties and Wexford beating Armagh in 08 were other shoxks as well as Fermanaghs herocs in 2004 getting to semi final.

CiarraiMick (Dublin) - Posts: 3879 - 01/05/2025 10:18:30    2605946

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Obviously from a very different era, but the one that's often nominated as the greatest gaelic football shock of all time is the 1957 Munster Championship semi-final: Waterford 2-5, Kerry 0-10.

Kerry had won the All-Ireland in 1953 and '55, been runners-up in '54, and would go on to win it again in '59. It's not like they were in the doldrums at the time. It was just an almighty, massive, monumental shock.

Pikeman96 (Wexford) - Posts: 2839 - 01/05/2025 10:21:53    2605948

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Replying To Pikeman96:  "Obviously from a very different era, but the one that's often nominated as the greatest gaelic football shock of all time is the 1957 Munster Championship semi-final: Waterford 2-5, Kerry 0-10.

Kerry had won the All-Ireland in 1953 and '55, been runners-up in '54, and would go on to win it again in '59. It's not like they were in the doldrums at the time. It was just an almighty, massive, monumental shock."
That Waterford win is the winner in my opinion.

Another shock from the old days was Ros dethroning a 3 in a row chasing Mayo in 1952.
The story goes there was a Newspaper strike at the time. Someone phoned in the result to Radio Éireann who refused to believe it.
They either didnt broadcast the result or did but with the score the wrong way round - depending on who you heard the tale from.
Result 3-6 to 0-5.

Seanfanbocht (Roscommon) - Posts: 2273 - 01/05/2025 11:25:21    2605971

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That 'groups draw' yesterday is well up there.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4116 - 01/05/2025 11:39:51    2605980

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