All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 1994

Infobox Hurling All-Ireland
year=1994


team=Offaly
titles=3rd
captain=Martin Hanamy
manager=Éamonn Cregan
munster=Limerick
leinster=Offaly
ulster=Antrim
connacht=
poty=Brian Whelehan
matches=
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship of 1994 was the 108th 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 4 September. The match was contested by Offaly and Limerick, with Offaly taking the title in dramatic circumstances by 3-16 to 2-13. The All-Ireland final itself is remembered as the ‘five minute final’ as Offaly’s took their third All-Ireland title ever.

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 first All-Ireland semi-final.
* The winners of the Leinster Championship advanced directly to the second All-Ireland semi-final.
* The winners of the Ulster Championship advanced directly to the first All-Ireland semi-final where they played the Munster champions.
* Galway, a team who faced no competition in the Connacht Championship, 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 in the semi-final.

All-Ireland final

Overview

Sunday 4 September was the date of the 1994 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Offaly and Limerick. It was an historic occasion as it was the first-ever championship meeting between these two emerging teams. Limerick were appearing in their first All-Ireland final since 1980 when they were defeated by Galway in another historic final. They last won the title in 1973 with a win over Kilkenny. Offaly were lining out in their first championship decider since 1985 when they defeated Galway to take their second All-Ireland title.

Match report

At 3:30pm referee Willie Barrett of Tipperary threw in the sliothar and a unique All-Ireland final got underway. From the very beginning it appeared that Offaly had reserved their worst championship performance for the biggest game of the year. Limerick, on the other hand, were playing their best hurling since they defeated Cork in the opening round of the Munster championship. With five minutes left in the game Limerick led by five points and seemed to have one hand on the Liam McCarthy Cup. They had outshone and in general outplayed the men from Offaly over the course of the sixty-five minutes. The scoreboard read 2-13 to 1-11,, however, Limerick’s dominance was nor reflected as they had recorded eighteen wides. Some of the Offaly supporters had already headed for the exits, unable to watch the last few minutes. Offaly were awarded a 21-yards free and Johnny Dooley stepped up to take it. He was instructed by the management team on the sideline to slot over a simple free, however, Dooley only had one thing on his mind. Seconds later the sliothar was in the Limerick net and Offaly were given a new lease of life. Straight after Joe Quaid’s puck-out the sliothar broke to an Offaly man again and was swiftly moved up the field. Thirty-five seconds after the first goal, Pat O'Connor slotted home a second to give his side the lead. As the Limerick team looked on stunned more points flew over the Limerick crossbar courtesy of Johnny Dooley, John Troy and three from Billy Dooley. With that the referee blew the full-time whistle and Offaly were the champions on a score line of 3-16 to 2-13.

It was a bittersweet moment for Éamonn Cregan, the Offaly manager. He was a native of Limerick and had won an All-Ireland title with the county in 1973. Now he had presided over one of his county’s most humiliating defeats.

tatistics

footballbox
date=1994-09-03
15:30 BST
team1=Offaly
score=3-16 – 2-13
team2=Limerick
report=
goals1=
goals2=
stadium=Croke Park, Dublin
attendance=54,458
referee= Willie Barrett (Tipperary)

{| 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).
* Fullam, Brendan, "Captains of the Ash" (Wolfhound Press, 2002).

ee also