Date 20 September 1992 Man of the Match Manus Boyle Attendance 64,547 | Venue Croke Park, Dublin Referee Tommy Sugrue (Kerry) | |
Event 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship | ||
The 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was the 105th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1992 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.
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The shock result was hailed as one of the most unbelievable seen in Championship football at that time; Dublin entered the game as heavy favourites to take the Sam Maguire Cup over the River Liffey. Wild scenes were reported throughout the country for many months afterwards.
Donegal's triumph over the citizens inspired many other counties with little success at that time, including Derry, Armagh and Tyrone, to believe they could achieve the All-Ireland - these three counties achieved their dream in the next eleven years. Donegal's march to the title was still regarded nationally as an "almost mystical expedition", all those years later, until the arrival of the yet more enigmatic and impressive Jim McGuinness, who surpassed even this achievement.
Brian McEniff was the man in charge of Donegal that day, with a backroom team that included Michael Lafferty, Seamus Bonner, Anthony Harkin, Naul McCole, team doctor Austin O'Kennedy, "man in the stand" Pauric McShea, and "man in Dublin" Sean Ferriter. The match was shown live on Network Two by RTÉ Sport with match commentary provided by Ger Canning and analysis by Colm O'Rourke.
Paths to the final
Donegal defeated Mayo in the semi-final. Dublin beat Clare in the semi-final. Dublin entered the match as heavy favourites to win what would have been their 22nd All-Ireland title.
First half
With Donegal playing into the Hill 16 end in the first half, Martin McHugh missed an early free kicking to the right before Charlie Redmond opened the scoring for Dublin in the third minute from a free. Dublin scored another point before Martin McHugh hit the post, with the rebound being put over the bar by James McHugh for Donegal's opening score. After eight minutes Dessie Farrell was pushed when running in on goal, the resulting penalty taken by Charlie Redmond was kicked high and wide to the right. At half time Donegal had a 0-10 to 0-7 lead.
Second half
In the second half Manus Boyle kicked over his sixth point of the match from a free to give Donegal a 0-13 to 0-8 point lead. Declan Bonner kicked left footed his fourth point and Donegal's final point to leave the final score at 0-18 to 0-14.
Trophy presentation
Fans burst onto the pitch - among them future Irish international soccer goalkeeper Shay Given and future Donegal players such as Paul Durcan. GAA President Peter Quinn presented the Sam Maguire Cup from the Hogan Stand to Donegal captain Anthony Molloy in front of the Donegal fans that filled the Croke Park pitch. He famously exclaimed "Sam's for the hills" as he did so.
The winning team boarded the train westwards, trundling through the midlands towards the wilderness of Sligo, intent on embarking from there by coach bound for Donegal Town. However, crowds gathered at train-stops in Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, Longford, Leitrim and Sligo to gawk in awe at the team that had put Dublin to the sword. 9,000 people were waiting in Sligo alone. It was many hours behind schedule when the team arrived in their home county.
Aftermath
Donegal returned to the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final after a 20-year absence on 23 September 2012 beating Mayo and reached the final again in 2014 only to lose to Kerry.
Dublin laboured towards another final in 1994, only to lose again on the big day—this time to Down.
Both sides have met each other in the all ireland championship since then. The first meeting was 10 years later in 2002 with Dublin beating Donegal in a replay of the quarter final. They met again in the semi final in 2011 with Dublin narrowly beating Donegal in what was viewed by many as a controversial game due to Donegal's defensive tactics. Both sides met again in the 2014 semi final with Donegal excelling to victory over a heavily fancied Dublin side that became renowned for their formidable attacking football annihilating teams they played previously.