1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

The 1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was the 53rd staging of Ireland's premier Gaelic football knock-out competition. Galway entered the championship as defending champions; however, they were beaten by Mayo in the Connacht final. Kerry were the winners.^[1][2][3]

1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

Championship details
Teams	26
All-Ireland Champions
Winning team	Kerry (13th win)
Captain	Tom O'Connor
All-Ireland Finalists
Losing team	Meath
Captain	Matt Gilsenan
Provincial Champions
Munster	Kerry
Leinster	Meath
Ulster	Cavan
Connacht	Mayo
Championship statistics
← 1938 1940 →

Format

Provincial Championships format changes

Leinster Championship format change

2 Preliminary rounds instead of usual 1. Involved were Longford, Carlow, Westmeath & Wicklow of course the winners qualified for a quarterfinal to meet the stronger teams.

Munster Championship format change

In 1939 Kerry were given a bye to the Munster final, preliminary round was just a lone match between Cork vs Waterford, the winners of the game played in the quarterfinals along with Tipperary, Limerick and Clare, the winners of the game played in a lone Semifinal. The format was previously used in 1933 and was used again in 1941.

All Ireland semifinals system

The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual in every 3rd year in rotation, with the four winners from Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster advancing to the All-Ireland semi-finals. The draw for these games was as follows:

• Munster V. Connacht
• Ulster V. Leinster

Provincial championships

Connacht Senior Football Championship

	Semifinal					Final
							Galway	0-03
		Mayo	2-10				Mayo	2-06
		Sligo	0-02

25 June 1939
Semifinal

Mayo	2-10 – 0-2	Sligo
H Kenny (0-1), M Hannon (0-1), J Munnelly (1-3), P Moclair (1-1), T Hoban (0-4).

Sligo

Attendance: 4,000

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16 July 1939
Final

Mayo	2-6 – 0-3	Galway
P Flannelly (0-3), M Hannon (0-1); J Munnelly (0-1), P Moclair (2-1).

St. Coman's Park, Roscommon

Attendance: 20,000

Leinster Senior Football Championship

	Round 1					Round 2
		Longford	0-17
	4-04	Westmeath
								3-04
						Carlow		2-05
	Carlow		2-08
	Wicklow		1-03

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
	Wexford		0-06
	Longford		0-04
						Wexford		1-07
						Louth		0-07
	Louth		3-04
	Dublin		1-06
											Wexford		2-03
											Meath		2-07
	Meath		1-09
	Laois		1-07
						Meath		2-10
						Kildare		2-08
	Kildare		2-11
	Offaly		1-01

7 May 1939
Round 1

Longford	0-17 – 4-4	Westmeath

Pearse Park, Longford

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14 May 1939
Round 1

Wicklow	1-3 – 2-8	Carlow

Enniscorthy

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28 May 1939
Round 2

Longford	3-4 – 2-5	Carlow

O'Moore Park, Portlaoise

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28 May 1939
Quarterfinal

Louth	3-4 – 1-6	Dublin

Páirc Tailteann, Navan

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4 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Meath	1-9 – 1-7	Laois

Cusack Park, Mullingar

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11 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Kildare	2-11 – 1-1	Offaly
M.Geraghty 1-5, T.Dalton 1-1, P.Barry 0-2, M.Brosnan, P.Waters, H.Ennis 0-1.

Nolan Park, Kilkenny

Referee: D Hamilton (Dublin)

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11 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Wexford	0-6 – 0-4	Longford

Croke Park, Dublin

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2 July 1939
Semifinal

Wexford	1-7 – 0-7	Louth

Croke Park, Dublin

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9 July 1939
Semifinal

Meath	2-10 – 2-8	Kildare
		W.Ryan 1-1, M.Geraghty 0-3, P.Barry 1-0, P.Waters, R.Martin, M.Brosnan, T.Dalton 0-1.

Drogheda Park, Drogheda

Attendance: 20,000

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30 July 1939
Final

Meath	2-7 – 2-3	Wexford
Tony Donnelly 0-5 (0-3f), Jim Clarke and Hugh Lynch 1-0 each, Matty Gilsenan and Jack Cummins 0-1 each		Tom Roche 1-2 and Joe Smyth 1-1

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 20,000

Referee: J. Dunne (Dublin)

Munster Senior Football Championship

	Preliminary round					Quarterfinals					Semifinal
						Clare		1-08, 2-14
						Limerick		2-05, 0-03
											Clare		1-06
											Tipperary		4-05
						Tipperary		1-09
	Cork		0-08			Cork		2-02
	Waterford		0-07

	Final
	Kerry		2-11
	Tipperary		0-04

14 May 1939
Preliminary round

Cork	0-8 – 0-7	Waterford
D. O’Connor & P. Barron (0-1), R. Harnedy (1-1), P.O’Sullivan (0-1), J. Young & R. Keily (0-2).

Fraher Field, Dungarvan

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14 May 1939
Quarterfinal

Clare	1-8 – 2-5	Limerick

Cusack Park, Ennis

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4 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Tipperary	1-9 – 2-2	Cork
		D. Murphy & P. O’Sullivan (0-1).

Mitchelstown

Referee: S. Moynihan (K)

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18 June 1939
Quarterfinal Replay

Clare	2-14 – 0-3	Limerick

The Cricket Field, Kilrush

Attendance: 2,000

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2 July 1939
Semifinal

Tipperary	4-5 – 1-6	Clare

Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

Referee: S. Moynihan (K)

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23 July 1939
Final

Kerry	2-11 – 0-4	Tipperary
Johnny Walsh (0-1), Tony McAuliffe (1-1), Charlie O'Sullivan (0-1), Mikey Lyne (0-3) & Murt Kelly (1-4).

Ned Hall Park, Clonmel

Referee: D. Goode (W)

Ulster Senior Football Championship

	Preliminary round
	Down		1-06
	Antrim		1-05

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals					Final
						Armagh		1-06, 1-06
						Monaghan		1-06, 0-02
											Armagh		2-04, 1-04
											Cavan		2-06, 2-03
	Donegal		0-06
	Down		1-01
						Donegal		0-04
						Cavan		5-12
	Cavan		4-11
	Tyrone		1-02

25 June 1939
Preliminary round

Down	1-6 – 1-5	Antrim

Corrigan Park, Belfast

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25 June 1939
Quarterfinal

Cavan	4-11 – 1-2	Tyrone

Omagh

Attendance: 3,000

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2 July 1939
Quarterfinal

Donegal	0-6 – 1-1	Down

Magheragallon

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16 July 1939
Semifinal

Monaghan	1-6 – 1-6	Armagh

St. Mary's Park, Castleblayney

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23 July 1939
Semifinal Replay

Monaghan	0-2 – 1-6	Armagh

St. Mary's Park, Castleblayney

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23 July 1939
Semifinal

Cavan	5-12 – 0-4	Donegal

Breffni Park, Cavan

Attendance: 8,000

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6 August 1939
Final

Cavan	2-6 – 2-4	Armagh

St. Mary's Park, Castleblayney

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13 August 1939
Final Replay

Cavan	2-3 – 1-4	Armagh

Croke Park, Dublin

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship

	Semifinals					Final
	1M	Kerry	0-04, 3-08
	1C	Mayo	0-04, 1-04
						1M	Kerry	2-05
						1L	Meath	2-03
	1L	Meath	1-09
	1U	Cavan	1-01

13 August 1939
Semifinal

Kerry	0-4 – 0-4	Mayo
Sean Brosnan (0-2), Charlie O'Sullivan (0-1) & Murt Kelly (0-1).		P Flannelly (0-1), J Carney (0-1) & T Hoban (0-2, one free).

Croke Park, Dublin

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20 August 1939
Semifinal

Meath	1-9 – 1-1	Cavan

Croke Park, Dublin

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10 September 1939
Semifinal Replay

Kerry	3-8 – 1-4	Mayo
P. Kennedy(0-1), J. G. O'Gorman (0-2), S. Brosnan (0-1), J. Walsh (1-1), T. Landers (0-2), D. Spring (1-0) & C. O'Sullivan (1-1).		H Kenny (0-1), P Laffey (0-2), J Munnelly (1-0) & T Hoban (0-1).

Croke Park, Dublin

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Main article: 1939 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final

24 September 1939
Final

Kerry	2-5 – 2-3	Meath
Murt Kelly (0-2), Johnny Walsh (0-1), Dan Spring (2-1) & Tim Landers (0-1).

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 46,828

Referee: J Flaherty (Offaly)

Championship statistics

Miscellaneous

• Meath win their second Leinster Title first since 1895.
• Kerry are now one behind Dublin with All Ireland titles.
• The Ulster Final was originally scheduled for St. Mary's Park, Castleblaney, however it had to be abandoned when spectators encroached onto the pitch, with Cavan leading by two points. The replay was fixed for Croke Park the following week as a double-header of the All-Ireland semi-final between Kerry and Mayo.^[4]
• There were a number of first-time championship meetings; There were 2 first time championship meetings in the All Ireland Series at first in the semifinal stage a first meeting between Meath vs Cavan while the second was All Ireland final was the first championship meeting of Kerry vs Meath.