2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

2004 All-Ireland Football Championship final
Event2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Kerry Mayo
1-20
(23)		 2-9
(15)
Date26 September 2004
VenueCroke Park, Dublin
RefereePat McEnaney (Monaghan)
Attendance79,749
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2005 →

The 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 117th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.

Mayo were hoping to bridge a gap that stretched back to their All-Ireland football title winning team of 1951.[1] They failed, though less miserably than in 2006. Mayo lost their fourth final in a row; in the end Kerry only won by eight points. Dara Ó Cinnéide was the winning captain, while manager Jack O'Connor won the title in his first season in charge.[2] The match was shown live in Ireland on RTÉ2 as part of The Sunday Game with match commentary from Ger Canning and Martin Carney.

Croke Park kitted out in the green and red of long-suffering Mayo fans at the 2004 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final. Mayo's losing streak in All-Ireland finals continued as they were hammered by Kerry

Largely regarded as one of the most disappointing All-Ireland football finals for many years, Mayo's capitulation drove spectators from the stadium in their thousands with Kerry leading by 1-12 to 1-4 at half time.[2] Kerry racked up a total of 1-20, the highest team score in an All-Ireland football final since the time of 'Bomber' Liston and the 5-11 that decimated Dublin in 1978.[2] Mayo returned to the final two years later, to be torn apart by Kerry all over again in a final when Kerry surpassed the score they achieved in 2004.

In 2022, Martin Breheny listed it among "five of the worst" All-Ireland SFC finals since 1972.[3]

  1. ^ McGee, Eugene (6 February 2006). "First signs that Mayo might be set to turn back the clock". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 6 February 2006.
  2. ^ a b c Breheny, Martin (27 September 2004). "Croker rout as Kerry go heavy on Mayo". Irish Independent. Independent News & Media. Retrieved 27 September 2004.
  3. ^ Breheny, Martin (9 August 2022). "Five of the worst All-Ireland football finals since 1972". Irish Independent.