Your unique memories of All-Ireland Final day 2002

I was 10, watched it at home with my siblings who were of similar age while our parents went because they could only get two tickets.. of course there was no problem back then with leaving 4 kids on their own for the day but we got on with it and we were glued to the screen.

My eldest sister who must have been 14 at the time said the rosary at half time that we would win.

Although I wasn't fortunate enough to be there that day I still regard it as the best day of my life.

I remember going to John Toal's house in the coming weeks as he had brought home sam and let the country in to get pictures with it.
 

Kem

Active Member
The biggest problem was the inability to be in two places at the same time. We had booked a table at the City West and a memorable night it was but when we heard about the fun at home we were a bit pissed off that we missed it.
 

McCoyDromintee

Active Member
Watching the game back here for first time in years.

Bar the first few minutes, we were ripped apart in the first half and Kerry had more goal chances than I ever remembered.

Oisin was having a nightmare for 40 minutes and then, as per usual, stood up when the game was to be won.

Clarke and Marsden's handling was out of this world.

I've lost count of the number of times Aidan O'Rourke has forced a Kerry runner back on themselves. He had a massive final, something I never realised before.

It wasn't an especially high quality final but the midfield battle was superb and McGrane and O'Se (first half) were brilliant.
 

pablo

Well-Known Member
Watching the game back here for first time in years.

Bar the first few minutes, we were ripped apart in the first half and Kerry had more goal chances than I ever remembered.

Oisin was having a nightmare for 40 minutes and then, as per usual, stood up when the game was to be won.

Clarke and Marsden's handling was out of this world.

I've lost count of the number of times Aidan O'Rourke has forced a Kerry runner back on themselves. He had a massive final, something I never realised before.

It wasn't an especially high quality final but the midfield battle was superb and McGrane and O'Se (first half) were brilliant.

I felt we were doing fairly well and going toe to toe until John McEntee got injured. I think folk underestimate the impact that had on how that half of the game transpired. Once John was injured, we lost our shape a bit and the Kerry half backs were no longer pinned back and able to make overlapping runs up the field. We got it sorted in the second half with the introduction of Tony Mc and Bumpy O'Hagan, the latter of which made a cracking contribution and more than made up for that shot in 2000 that dropped short into the goalies hands.
I remember feeling before the game that Kerry had a pattern of blowing away their opponents in one intense blitz but were not able to keep that level going for an entire game. I felt that there would be a period of the game that Kerry would try to blitz us, but if we hung in there and kept it to 3 or 4 points, we had a real shout as Kerry would not be able to dig deep and reach that intensity again. John Mc going off gave them the chance to have a go at us and we hung in there, but there were a few moments when our eyes were peering from behind nervous fingers.
 
Cant believe McGeeney kicked that ball in long from the free in injury time!

The quality was a lot lower than i remembered. A lot of wayward kickpassing, bad wides, shots dropping short.

Every kickout was a long hopeful punt - how the game has changed!
 

armaghlad

Active Member
Cant believe McGeeney kicked that ball in long from the free in injury time!

The quality was a lot lower than i remembered. A lot of wayward kickpassing, bad wides, shots dropping short.

Every kickout was a long hopeful punt - how the game has changed!
I’m not sure. I agree the game has changed and yes there was plenty of sloppy play. But the fielding was better, the long range shooting was better, the physicality was better (in that the game was “let go” by the ref). The handling at times was poor, marking was poor, and kickouts as mentioned they just hoofed it.
The main difference now is that teams play possession, no more long range shooting, no more potshots, no more ambitious passes, it’s percentages football hence why we have the powers that be changing the rules every 6 months
 
Watching the game back here for first time in years.

Bar the first few minutes, we were ripped apart in the first half and Kerry had more goal chances than I ever remembered.

Oisin was having a nightmare for 40 minutes and then, as per usual, stood up when the game was to be won.

Clarke and Marsden's handling was out of this world.

I've lost count of the number of times Aidan O'Rourke has forced a Kerry runner back on themselves. He had a massive final, something I never realised before.

It wasn't an especially high quality final but the midfield battle was superb and McGrane and O'Se (first half) were brilliant.
Agree with all above but Bumpy O'Hagan was the real game changer for me, won allot of dirty ball and was massively under-rated. Paddy McKeever had a very quiet final.
 

pablo

Well-Known Member
Agree with all above but Bumpy O'Hagan was the real game changer for me, won allot of dirty ball and was massively under-rated. Paddy McKeever had a very quiet final.

Likewise, watched the whole thing again the other evening:
Ger Canning was a condescending twat. Gave us no chance and in the first half seemed to cream his pants every time Kerry got the ball.
Bad penalty from Oisin. But, jeez-that goalie was out to almost the edge of the small square before the kick was taken.
Spot on earlier observation by McCoy earlier re: Aidan O'Rourke.
Stevie-in the first half he missed easier scores than the points he actually landed
Ronan-what a talent. Watching that again emphasizes the tragedy for how injury later curtailed us seeing the full flow of his genius
 

Armamike

Active Member
Not getting much sleep the night before the final.

Meeting up with friends and family in the Gresham that morning.

Not an overly religious person, but went off on my own to pray heavily at half time.

The roar from the crowd when Oisin planted the goal. Rocked the stadium.

Hardly being able to watch the game during the last 10 minutes, getting the times mixed up and thinking that there was another 5 mins to go when actually time was just about up.

Trying to get down onto the pitch as quickly as possible. Looking out for friends and family on the pitch - like a needle in the haystack.

People cracking open champagne bottles outside Quinn's.

CityWest for the banquet and thinking the ticket at £100 was the best money I ever spent. Shaking hands with Geezer and Joe. Seeing every GAA personality it seemed there that night. Loving Pat Spillane's reaction on the Sunday Game and Brolly pissing himself laughing at him.

Waking up every morning for about 8 months after that with a smile on my face.
 

PatMustard

Well-Known Member
Bar the first few minutes, we were ripped apart in the first half and Kerry had more goal chances than I ever remembered.

We settled really well, and seemed to get through Kerry’s defence almost at ease. McDonnell and McCann kicking wides I think.

Kerry had chances to put us away. I remember the whole stadium going ‘oohhhh’ when Sean O’Sullivan’s effort was replayed on big screen. It was inches away. Think Cooper had another chance which hit McGeeneys back and over.

I sat in almost silence at half time contemplating a gutwrenching defeat. We’d come so far, and it looked like it was turning into a nightmare.

Kerry were capable of blowing us away. But I also knew that Kerry hadn’t been in a scrap that year (we had many times), and if we could get a couple of scores back, and up the tempo, they might not be able to live with our intensity. And thankfully, that proved to be the case.
 

Armamike

Active Member
As Pablo and others here have said, John McEntee going off early in the game was a big blow. We took a while to adjust to that. Kerry did run us ragged for about 15 mins if I remember after that. But we inched our way back into in towards the end of the half. It was a new and different game in the second half. Much less open. Kerry just did not get the same spaces to run into that they did in the first half. On another day Kerry could have taken 1 or 2 of their goal chances and been out of sight. But we were overdue a bit of luck against them. It was our turn.
 
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