Long history of rivalry between Dublin and Kerry

How many parish priests in the country are supposed to have put a curse on county teams because they or their supporters left mass early on their way to a match?

 

It was supposed to be the reason why Clare ,and also Galway, went so long without winning an All-Ireland senior hurling title. I’m sure there is a similar yarn about some group leaving early in Mayo. The unfortunate thing about last Sunday’s football final was that two teams who have won so rarely were playing each other. If either Donegal or Mayo were playing any of the stronger counties, then the majority of the country would have been behind them.

Kerry, with 36 wins, have won more senior titles than any other county and the next most successful county is Dublin, with 23. Their clashes have been regarded as the great rivalry within the GAA.

Maybe this has stemmed from their matches during the 1970s when, without doubt, they were the two top teams in the country. In that decade alone, Kerry won four titles and Dublin three.

Historically, however, in the first 100 years of the GAA, they only met 15 times in the championship, with Kerry winning nine and Dublin six. However, going back the years, things were a lot less balanced between them. By the time Kerry won their first championship in 1903, Dublin already led the roll of honour with eight titles. In the first 50 years of the history of the GAA, Dublin and Kerry met six times in the championship, three times in semi-finals and three times in finals. In each case, the score was Dublin two wins to Kerry’s one. Kerry did not pass them out in the roll of honour until 1941 but Dublin joined them on top again in 1942 by winning their 15th title. From then on, Kerry simply pulled ahead in the title stakes and over the next 30 years, completely dominated Dublin.

Those were the days before the introduction of back doors, when each team had to win their provincial championships before progressing to the All-Ireland series. This limited the potential meetings of the two teams. They met twice in the 1950s, with Kerry winning both times – in the final of 1955 and semi-final of 1959.

When Dublin swarmed onto the scene in 1974, Kerry were not even Munster champions. Under the management of Kevin Heffernan, Dublin mesmerised the country and looked set to dominate football for a long time.

However, Kerry had other ideas and a team of young bachelors led by Mick O’Dwyer became the new super team and defeated the Dubs in the final of 1975. The following year was meant to decide which team was the greater. Dublin won and again in a classic semi-final the following year. That proved to be that however and Kerry won their next four meetings – all in finals.

The 1976 Dublin win was historic in its own way. It was the first time Dublin had beaten Kerry in a championship match in 42 years – since the semi-final of 1934. That Dublin win, of 3-8 to 0-10, happened on September 26, 1976 – 36 years ago this week.