All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 1980

Infobox Hurling All-Ireland
year=1980


team=Galway
titles=2nd
captain=Joe Connolly
manager=Cyril Farrell
munster=Limerick
leinster=Offaly
ulster=
connacht=
poty=
matches=
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship of 1980 was the 94th edition of Ireland’s premier hurling knockout competition. The championship ran from May to September of that year, culminating with the All-Ireland final, held at Croke Park, Dublin on 7 September. The match was contested by Galway and Limerick, with Galway taking the title by 2-15 to 3-9. It was Galway's first All-Ireland title since 1923.

Format

The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual. All games were played on a knockout basis whereby once a team lost they were eliminated from the championship. The format for the All-Ireland series of games ran as follows:
* The winners of the Munster Championship advanced directly to the All-Ireland final.
* The winners of the Leinster Championship advanced directly to a lone All-Ireland semi-final.
* Galway, a team who faced no competition in Connacht, entered the championship at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage. Their opponents in this game were the winners of the All-Ireland ’B’ Championship. The winners of this lone ‘quarter-final’ would advance to play the Leinster champions.
* There were no representatives from Ulster in the All-Ireland championship.

All-Ireland final

Overview

Sunday 7 September was the date of the 1980 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Galway and Limerick. It was Galway’s second consecutive appearance in the championship decider after losing to Kilkenny in 1979 while Limerick last appeared in the All-Ireland final of 1974 when they too lost to Kilkenny. Limerick last won the championship in 1973 while Galway had waited fifty-seven years since 1923 for the chance to win their second All-Ireland title. Both sides last met in the championship forty years earlier in 1940 when Limerick were the winners.

Match report

After all the pre-match festivities had taken place the referee threw in the sliothar at 3:15pm and the game was on. Galway were supremely confident and got off to the best possible start. A delivery from Joe Connolly reached Bernie Forde who took off on a solo run before kicking the sliothar to the net. Ten minutes into the half a second goal by P.J. Molloy sent Galway into a 2-1 to 0-0 lead and it looked as if history was about to be made. Limerick launched a spirited counter attack; however, at half-time the score was 2-7 to 1-5. The second-half turned into an extremely tense affair with Limerick goals by Offaly native Joe McKenna and Éamonn Cregan who was single-handedly leading the Limerick attack. The last few minutes could have seen the game go either way, however, Galway held on and won the game by 2-15 to 3-9.

There was a remarkable symmetry to the win because the last time that Galway won the All-Ireland title in 1923 it was a Limerick team that they defeated also. The full-time whistle heralded unprecedented scenes of joy for an All-Ireland win at Croke Park as the Galway supporters flooded onto the field to chair their heroes off the field. It took Galway captain Joe Connolly ten minutes to reach the Hogan Stand rostrum where he became the second Galway man to collect the Liam McCarthy Cup. He then proceeded to deliver one of the finest acceptance speeches by any All-Ireland captain. Delivered totally in his native Irish, the English translation is as follows:

"People of Galway, after fifty-seven years the All-Ireland title is back in Galway. It’s a great honour for me, as captain, to accept this cup for this team. I would like to offer thanks to a couple of people who helped us wonderfully during the year. The three selectors – Cyril Farrell, Bernie O’Connor and especially, Cyril Farrell, who helped us to claim this cup. Also, who could forget Inky Flaherty who did great work for the team. There were two other men, Willie Barrett the masseur and Dr. Mary McInerney, who gave great help to us. And I would like to welcome and extend thanks to two men who played with Galway throughout the year and because of injuries they were not today. They are Jack Lucas and Fr. Iggy Clarke. It’s wonderful to be a Galway man on a day like today. There are people back in Galway and wonder in their hearts, and also we must remember people in England, in America, all over the world and maybe they are crying at this moment. To finish up I would like to extend thanks to the Limerick team for the wonderful game they gave us today and I would like you to give three cheers to Limerick."

In an echo of Pope John Paul II’s address to an Irish crowd the previous September Connolly finished off his speech with the immortal line ‘People of Galway, we love you!’ The celebrations continued after the acceptance speech as Joe McDonagh seized the microphone and led the crowd in a rendition of ‘the West’s Awake.’

tatistics

footballbox
date=1980-09-07
15:15 BST
team1=Galway
score=2-15 – 3-9
team2=Limerick
report=
goals1=
goals2=
stadium=Croke Park, Dublin
attendance=64,895
referee= Noel O'Donoghue (Dublin)

{| width=100% style="font-size: 90%"MATCH RULES
*70 minutes.
*Replay if scores level.
*Three named substitutes

References

* Corry, Eoghan, "The GAA Book of Lists" (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
* Donegan, Des, "The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games" (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).

ee also