1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final


The 1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 78th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Match

This year's final was played on 26 September.

Summary

For the first time since the 1941 final, the same two counties contested the decider in successive years. However, it was far from the magical spectacle that fans expected, given the high-scoring performance that both sides gave in the 1964 final. Destructive football and indiscriminate jersey-pulling, leading to three players being sent-off, marred a game that never delivered as much as it had promised. 13 of the 21 scores came from frees, both Bernie O'Callaghan and Cyril Dunne called upon many times to edge their county ahead. It was essentially "Survival of the Fittest", but even in this unpromising setting, there were some performances of real merit. Pat Donnellan, who had outplayed Denis O'Sullivan early on, stepped into the breach at a stage when O'Callaghan had reduced Kerry's arrears to a minimum. The Kerry resurgence had been fueled by a vintage period for Mick O'Connell, but when the Galway mentors switched Donnellan onto the Valentia man, midfield control - slight though it was - swung back to the reigning champions. With 15 minutes remaining, Séamus Leydon had Galway's twelfth point but Kerry had not the ability to profit from this period of stagnation, and their only return for some enthusiastic, but poorly organised attacks, was the pointed frees from O'Connell and O'Callaghan. The margin of three points hardly flattered Galway, but the Tribesmen had too much on the day for Kerry and duly collected their second consecutive All-Ireland SFC title.
It was the second of three in a row All-Ireland SFC titles won by Galway in the 1960s, which made them joint "team of the decade" with Down who also won three.
Galway's three 1960s titles came consecutively.

Details

Galway
Maroon & White Shirts/White Shorts/Maroon Socks		0–12 – 0–9
Kerry
Green & Gold Shirts/White shorts/Green Socks
Manager: John "Tull" Dunne
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Team:

1 Johnny Geraghty

2 Enda Colleran

3 Noel Tierney

4 Bosco McDermott

5 John Donnellan

6 Seán Meade

7 Martin L. Newell

9 Mick Garrett

8 Pat Donnellan

10 Cyril Dunne

11 Mattie McDonagh

12 Seamus Leydon

13 Christy Tyrrell

14 Seán Cleary

15 John Keenan
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Substitutes used:

16 Mick Reynolds for Keenan

Substitutes not used:

17 Tom Sands

18 Tommy Keenan

19 B. Geraghty

20 Michael Moore
Half-time:
0–7 – 0–5
Competition:
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Date:
15.30 BST
Sunday, September 26, 1965
Venue:
Croke Park, Dublin
Attendance:
77,735
Referee:
Mick Loftus
Match rules:
60 minutes.
Replay if scores still level.
Maximum of 3 substitutions.		Manager: Jim Brosnan
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Team:

1 Johnny Culloty

2 Donie O'Sullivan

3 Niall Sheehy

4 Mick Morris

5 Sean Murphy?/Séamus Murphy

6 Paud O'Donoghue

7 Jerdie O'Connor

8 Denis O'Sullivan

9 Mick O'Connell

10 Vincent Lucey

11 Pat Griffin

12 Derry O'Shea

13 Bernie O'Callaghan

14 Mick O'Dwyer

15 J. J. Barrett
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Substitutes used:

21 Jimmy O'Shea?Jerome O'Shea for Barrett

18 D. Geaney for Lucey

Substitutes not used:

16 M. Kelly

17 J. Lucey

19 S. Burrows

20 P. Bowler

22 J. Burke

23 T. Sheehan

24 S. Mac Gearailt