September 26, 1976, Croke Park

"I don't care if I never win another fcuking match!"

The 1975 final had been a nightmare for Dublin. Already in 1974 there had been people saying that Dublin would not be considered as real champions until they overcame the Kingdom. Indeed there were people connected to the team who felt the same and who had relished the prospect of meeting what many considered to be a callow Kerry side which would not have the resources to stand up to a tough Dublin team. They ought to have known better. On the eve of the '76 showdown Robbie Kelliher admitted that complacency had indeed taken hold of the Dublin team the previous year. They had "under-estimated" Kerry but would not make the same mistake again. 1975 had been particularly galling for Kevin Heffernan for whom it was a tragic repeat of the final 20 years earlier when he had been part of a classy Dublin side that was humbled by the Kerrymen. He was consumed with a mission to destroy the debilitating myth that a Dublin team would never beat Kerry in a final.

A marker was quickly laid down following the 1975 final when Dublin beat Kerry in a league game at Croke Park in front of a huge November crowd. It was not quite revenge but it did restore some confidence and laid the basis for a ruthless pursuit of the title. Indeed it is probably true to say that Dublin would not have been content to have won it without overcoming their nemesis in the process.

Dublin were impressive during the league which they won for the first time since 1964 when they overcame Derry in the final by 2 - 10 to 0 - 15. Leinster was handy enough with two hammerings of Longford and Laois prior to a dogged final win over Meath who had beaten Dublin in the 1975 league final. It was the beginning of a grim rivalry in which Dublin maintained a narrow dominance for the next ten years.

The All Ireland semi-final had been a tough physical encounter with Galway who clearly had the notion that the way to beat Dublin was to "stick it into them". But these boys were not for been stuck into by anybody. Indeed when it came down to it, as it did on several occasions in those years, Dublin were more than able to get the better of teams that had notions about them being in some way 'soft'. A Keaveney goal was the decisive score in Dublin's 1 - 8 to 0 - 8 victory.

Kerry beat Waterford by 20 points in the Munster semi-final but were forced to a replay in the final by Cork. That went to extra time which Kerry won by four points. Having overcome that near upset, they demolished Derry in the All Ireland semi-final, 5 - 14 to 1 - 10.

And so the scene was set. Tom Brown of the Evening Press described it as the "final showdown", the one which would settle the question as to which of the teams was the superior. He also hoped that it would be the last such and that other counties would emerge to challenge what already seemed a a duopoly in which Kerry and Dublin were separated by a vast gulf from all the rest. Meath and Cork might have had something to say about that!

The media hype in the run-up to the final was unprecedented. Journalists hunted down players and selectors and the sponge-carrier's cousin in their homes, places of work and coming out of the shop with a bottle of milk for the breakfast. Most of it was pretty banal and harmless and was accompanied by reams of newsprint analysing the complex relationship between the Dub and the Kerryman. This was the era of the 'Kerryman joke' when a chap could earn howls of laughter for such gems as "What do you call a Kerryman under a tractor?" You give up? "A mechanic". Mighty.

Mind you the Kerrymen we knew were no joke. Our school seemed to be run by them although it was probably a coincidence that the Principal Mr. Barrett had hired virtually an entire staff from his own home parish! My mother was also technically a Kerrywoman, having been born in Kenmare, but she evinced no attachment to the place. Still, it was a shrewd gambit to let the Kerry teachers know about it. A bit like joining the Free Masons. You still got the hands beat off you with a bewildering selection of the tree family but I like to think that there may have been some restraint for ethnic reasons.

Our teacher in 1976 was Tom Roche from Ballybunion and we had great crack with him over the football. Indeed football occupied the best part of our week. When we weren't playing it out on the field at the back of the school - which was otherwise used to "sacrifice" random unfortunates at lunch time - we were often engaged in prolonged team selections. There were almost 50 in the class so making the team was not that easy. Leaving aside the obese, psychotic (although it was always useful to have one in the full back line), cowardly and those incapable of any sort of co-ordinated movement it was still a large panel and competition was intense.

I played hurling for the school and for Good Counsel but was not good at football but I generally made the team. I modelled myself - both in style and pot belly - on Jimmy Keaveney. My idea of an adequate contribution was a couple of sneaky points or the odd sneaky goal. I don't actually think that Roche was that impressed with me as his favourites appeared to be chaps whose speciality was putting the ball under their arm and charging into smaller chaps, preferably removing an eye or a vital organ in the process. Scoring was a bonus.

The lead-up to the final was brilliant. Roche would read us articles from the Irish Independent and snort at even the slightest journalistic insinuation that the Dubs might win. He was a flashy character who wore silver suits and went to the Zhivago night club. He also fancied Miss Kilkenny for whom Jimmy O'Connor was despatched to the shop every morning to buy an orange and deliver it to Miss Kilkenny's class room. He would then be quizzed as to her reaction.

Sometimes when she was crossing the yard and Roche was on one of his rounds to examine our great work, he would catch sight of her in the yard and stand gazing in rapture at her. So did I. Along with Spanish women in traditional costume, Suzi Quatro and any girl in school uniform I saw carrying a hockey stick, she was an object of early lust. So we shared something. I also suspect that the consummation of our lust was similarly confined to both of our imaginations. We will return later to Mr. Roche.

Dublin were outsiders at 9/4 although Terry Rogers only went 2/1. Rogers claimed to have heard of one £3,000 bet on Kerry. There were many reasons why Kerry ought to have been favourites. Not only had they decisively beaten Dublin the previous year but they were younger and with seemingly more physical reserves than the Dubs although that was not regarded as a problem by Heffernan who had ensured that his team had trained on and achieved a level of fitness that was remarkable for men many of whom would now be regarded as well past their peak for inter-county football.

The one area that was identified as providing Dublin with some chance was their revamped half-back line which was completely different to the one which had played against Galway in 1974 and Kerry in 1975. Reilly, Larkin and Wilson had looked exposed against a fast Kerry half forward line of Lynch, Moran and O'Sullivan. Heffo had rung the changes and in had come Pat O'Neill of UCD, veteran of ferocious Dublin county matches with Vincents, Kevin Moran of our club Good Counsel and Tommy Drumm of Whitehall Colmcilles.

Con Houlihan was one of the few to regard this as a mistake, particularly the positioning of Moran at centre-half. He thought the Drimnagh man would be more effective in the half forwards and conceded that he was " - the man Kerry fear most". Proving that his long exile from the Kingdom had not diminished his native faculties, Houlihan refused to make a prediction for his Dublin Evening Herald readers while confidently writing in the Kerryman that Kerry would win! Indeed, "They had better win - or else those of us who work and live in Dublin will have to seek political asylum".

Former Galway player Jack Mahon painted a "gloomy picture" of the modern game for readers of the Kerryman. Most of this could obviously be blamed on the jackeens, as well as the lamentable influence of the "singing lounge" and the pool room on the youth. He blamed training for the decline in standards! "The old kicking every evening is dead". Old Jack had obviously not watched his countymen in the semi-final. Or maybe kicking Dublin players in the afternoon was a different art form. Somehow he brought himself to conclude with the sentiment that a Dublin win would be "brilliant" for the game. With the proviso that they did it playing proper football. And giving up all that oul training and running about. Bring back the standing kick in the arse.

There were the usual rumours of injuries but all of the subjects; Keaveney, O'Keeffe and Deenihan were fit to play. Other pre-match disquiet centred on the fact that Dublin players were only been given four free tickets compared to nine for Kerry. Damien McElroy of the Evening Herald attacked Dublin Corporation for seeking more tickets for Councillors. "There are too many dignitaries and once-or-twice-a-year visitors in the stands already". Stand tickets were £3.50 while admittance to the terraces was £1. Bobby Beggs, All Ireland winner with Galway in 1938 and Dublin in 1942, kept up his tradition of running down his native county. He hoped they would win " - even though they are not a great team". Perhaps he worked secretly for Terry Rogers.

It was my first football final - I had been at the 1975 hurling final between Kilkenny and Galway - and I remember little of it. The darkness and smell and noise of whatever pub I was in before the match with my Dad and uncle Dennis. Paud O'Mahoney going off injured after what seemed to be an eternity of first aid in the Hill 16 goal. Bobby Doyle appearing with a bandaged thigh and putting the heart across us. Keaveney's goal into the sun behind the Canal End. 'Cockles and Mussels' at half time making the hairs stand up on the back of my neck and tears well up in my eyes. And the end. The silver trophy hoisted above Hanahoe's head away off in the Hogan Stand.

Kerry's fears regarding Kevin Moran were confirmed when he won the ball from the throw-in and set off on a sprint in the direction of Paud O'Mahoney. He received the ball back from Bernard Brogan and blasted the ball low and just to the right of the goal. It was a mark of defiance against a county which in the past would have had backs who would have taken Moran's head off rather than tolerate such audacity. Inspired, Dublin scored the first two points of the afternoon from Hanahoe and Mullins to lead by two after a blistering opening five minutes.

Kerry settled and there was an eerie preview of the disaster of 1978 when Cullen gave away a silly free that Mikey Sheehy sent over the bar. Keaveney hit the post with a free from distance before converting one from close range. Kerry responded with point from Brendan Lynch and John Egan to level although the latter might just as easily have been a goal. Brogan and Spillane exchanged points before the first decisive move that changed the course of the match.

On 15 minutes, Pat O'Neill once again beat the Kerry half forwards and burst clear. His pass found Hickey who completed a trade-mark one-two with Hanohoe. Hickey then handpassed to Doyle who found John McCarthy free behind the full-back line. McCarthy had the easiest of tasks to score. I think I caught the barest glimpse of McCarthy steady himself before being drowned in a tidal wave of jubilation on the Hill. Only the steady arm and shoulders of my father prevented me being swept away over the fence.

The following ten minutes were scoreless as the two teams concentrated more on winning a grim physical and psychological battle that on one or two occasions threatened to get out of hand. Deenihan struck Keaveney who in turn took his revenge out on the unfortunate Mickey Ned O'Sullivan, the victim the year before of a savage tackle that had seen him taken off unconscious. Then, as if both teams realised that neither was going to be bested in such a manner the game opened up again and we witnessed some tremendous and breath-taking football. During that ten-minute hiatus Kerry had lost their goalkeeper Paud O'Mahoney to injury and he was replaced by Charlie Nelligan. Keaveney widened the gap to four but following a foul on Sheehy by Doherty, Mikey converted the free to leave the score at 1 - 5 to 0 - 5 at half time.

Not for the first time that afternoon Cockles and Mussels rose spontaneously from the Hill and floated around the old stadium. I imagined that Molly Malone's ghost was accompanied by the spirits of Dublin teams of the past which had gone down to Kerry. A younger Heffo and 'Snitchy' perhaps from 1955 or the last Dublin team to beat Kerry in a final in 1923, backboned by the great O'Tooles team and including men who had been enemies in the Civil War.

The spirits must have been working their psychic magic because within two minutes of the re-start Dublin were six points clear. McCarthy was dragged to the ground in the square and Keaveney blasted the ball beyond the reach of Nelligan's left hand into the roof of the Canal End net. It is my clearest memory of the whole day. I think maybe my Da had lifted me up and I can remember shielding my eyes from the sun behind the goal.

As so often with Dublin teams, what should have been the event that hastened a comfortable victory was in fact the prelude to what seemed to be an endless and heart-stopping period in which Kerry came close to wiping out Dublin's advantage. Soon after the penalty Sean Walsh might have gotten a goal. This was followed by points from O'Sullivan, Sheehy - again another opportunity that might have been put under rather than over the bar - Spillane and Ogie Moran. Dublin had not scored for 17 interminable minutes and there were now only two points in it. Suddenly the Hill which had been silenced found its voice again and a mighty roar rose to encourage the team to greater efforts. In fairness they had never stopped but forward movements continually ran aground on dogged Kerry resistance and retreated before waves of successive attacks that we feared might overwhelm them. Then Hickey won the ball a long way from the goal out on the Hogan Stand side and hoisted a mighty kick. Time stopped as it seemed to hang for ever in the sky before it dropped over the bar for Dublin's first point of the second half.

Keavney blasts penalty past Charlie Nelligan

Dublin made running repairs. Hanahoe, sporting a bloody gash over his eye, was replaced by Fran Ryder who switched with a tiring Mullins to midfield. It was a crucial move as Mullins had ran himself into the ground and Kerry were getting the best of things there in the second half. 12 minutes from time Ryder won the ball and transferred it to Anton O'Toole. The 'Blue Panther', with that loping stride of his, brushed past Ger Power before hand-passing the ball to Mullins who had insinuated himself behind the Kerry full backs. Something akin to panic gripped Deenihan and co when they spotted him but it was too late. Mullins later said that the net looked huge and gaping. To us mortals it appeared narrow but the big man slotted the ball away with aplomb.

There was no way back now, even for Kerry. McCarthy got another point and Ogie Moran reduced the gap again to two goals before O'Toole scored the last point just before the whistle sounded.

As we walked back down Summerhill amid the jubilation - and it seemed as though the whole city was full of shouting laughing people - I was in an unusually philosophical cast of mind. As we passed one sheepish looking Kerryman I expressed the view that it must be great to be a Kerry person in Dublin when they beat Dublin in a final. My Da and Dennis looked at me as if I was some sort of changeling who had been placed in the bosom of the Treacy family by Kerry elves. I would probably look at Ciara the same way if she was to come out with something similar.

We waited for Mr. Roche the next morning like hyenas circling a dying zebra. Indeed that was not an unapt analogy because when he did appear, about half an hour late, he looked far from healthy. I imagine that the Zhivago club had paid host to his silver dancing suit the night before. In fairness to him he took our slagging and mayhem in good spirit for about five minutes before holding up his hands. "Lads, lads. Look, ye can do whatever ye want for the rest of the day so long as ye do it quietly". So we sat around whispering about the match - when all we really wanted to do was jump around and shout our heads off - while he sat head in hands groaning while reliving the agony through the pages of his newspaper. Thankfully, we had left him before the disaster of 1978!

	SCORERS - Dublin: Keaveney 1 - 2, McCarthy 1 -1, Mullins 1- 1, Hanahoe, Hickey, Brogan, O'Toole 0 - 1 each. Kerry: Sheehy 0 - 3, Moran, Spillane 0 -2, Lynch, Egan, O'Sullivan 0 - 1 each. DUBLIN - Paddy Cullen (O'Connell Boys), Gay O'Driscoll (St. Vincents), Sean Doherty (Ballyboden St. Endas), Robbie Kelleher (Scoil Ui Chonaill), Tommy Drumm (Whitehall Comcilles), Kevin Moran (Good Counsel), Pat O'Neill (UCD), Brian Mullins (St. Vincents) Bernard Brogan (Oliver Plunketts), Anton O'Toole (Synge Street), Tony Hanahoe (St. Vincents), David Hickey (Raheny), Bobby Doyle (St. Vincents), Jimmy Keaveney (St. Vincents), John McCarthy (Garda). Subs: Fran Ryder (St. Vincents) for Hanahoe, Pat Gogarty (Raheny) for Doyle KERRY - . P. O'Mahoney, G. O'Keeffe, J. O'Keeffe, J. Deenihan, P. O'Shea, T. Kennelly, G. Power, P. Lynch, P. McCarthy, D. Moran, M. Sheehy, M. O'Sullivan, B. Lynch, J. Egan, P. Spillane. Subs: C. Nelligan for O'Mahoney, S. Walsh for McCarthy, G. O'Driscoll for O'Sullivan REF - Pat Collins