| Event | 1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Date | 25 September 1977 | ||||||
| Venue | Croke Park, Dublin | ||||||
| Referee | John Moloney (Tipperary) | ||||||
| Attendance | 66,542 | ||||||
The 1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the ninetieth All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1977 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland. The game was contested by Armagh and Dublin. Dublin retained the Sam Maguire Cup.
This was Armagh's second ever All-Ireland final. Their previous appearance was in 1953. Dublin had appeared in the previous three finals, winning two of those (1974 and 1976).
Jimmy Smyth captained Armagh.[1]
Jimmy Keaveney scored 2–6, which was the amount Dublin won by. This final's eight goals is joint most scored in a final, a record shared with the 1948 match.[2]
Joe Kernan scored two of Armagh's goals.[3]
An early goal by Keaveney and Dublin led by 3–6 to 1–3 at half-time and by 4–8 to 1–3 at one point in the second half before the two Kernan goals; in 2022, Martin Breheny listed it among "five of the worst" All-Ireland SFC finals since 1972.[4]
Armagh would not return to an All-Ireland football decider until 2002.
- ^ Watters, Andy (16 September 2020). "Neighbours St Paul's and Clan na Gael do battle for bragging rights and silverware in all-Lurgan Armagh championship final". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 17 August 2022.
...Smyth, winner of nine senior championship medals, the Armagh skipper in the 1977 All-Ireland final and then a popular GAA commentator on BBC.
- ^ High Ball magazine, issue #6, 1998.
- ^ "Armagh are champions". BBC. 22 September 2002.
It was sweet revenge too for Armagh boss Joe Kernan who scored two goals when the Orchard County lost in their last final appearance to Dublin 25 years ago.
- ^ Breheny, Martin (9 August 2022). "Five of the worst All-Ireland football finals since 1972". Irish Independent.