1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

The 1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was the 78th All-Ireland Final and the deciding match of the 1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, an inter-county Gaelic football tournament for the top teams in Ireland.^[1]

1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final

Event	1965 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship
Galway Kerry 0–12 0–9
Date	26 September 1965
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Referee	Mick Loftus (Mayo)
Attendance	77,735
← 1964 1966 →

Match

Summary

For the first time since the 1941 final, the same two counties contested the decider in successive years. However, it was far from the magical spectacle that fans expected, given the high-scoring performance that both sides gave in the 1964 final. Destructive football and indiscriminate jersey-pulling, leading to three players being sent-off, marred a game that never delivered as much as it had promised. 13 of the 21 scores came from frees, both Bernie O'Callaghan and Cyril Dunne called upon many times to edge their county ahead. It was essentially "Survival of the Fittest", but even in this unpromising setting, there were some performances of real merit. Pat Donnellan, who had outplayed Denis O'Sullivan early on, stepped into the breach at a stage when O'Callaghan had reduced Kerry's arrears to a minimum. The Kerry resurgence had been fueled by a vintage period for Mick O'Connell, but when the Galway mentors switched Donnellan onto the Valentia man, midfield control - slight though it was - swung back to the reigning champions. With 15 minutes remaining, Séamus Leydon had Galway's twelfth point but Kerry had not the ability to profit from this period of stagnation, and their only return for some enthusiastic, but poorly organised attacks, was the pointed frees from O'Connell and O'Callaghan. The margin of three points hardly flattered Galway, but the Tribesmen had too much on the day for Kerry and duly collected their second consecutive All-Ireland SFC title.

It was the second of three in a row All-Ireland SFC titles won by Galway in the 1960s, which made them joint "team of the decade" with Down who also won three.^[2]

Galway's three 1960s titles came consecutively.^[3]

Details

Galway

Kerry

Galway Maroon & White Shirts/White Shorts/Maroon Socks	0–12 – 0–9 (final score after 60 minutes)	Kerry Green & Gold Shirts/White shorts/Green Socks
Manager: John "Tull" Dunne Team: 1 Johnny Geraghty (GK) 2 Enda Colleran (c) 3 Noel Tierney 4 Bosco McDermott 5 John Donnellan 6 Seán Meade 7 Martin L. Newell 9 Mick Garrett[contradictory] 8 Pat Donnellan 10 Cyril Dunne 11 Mattie McDonagh 12 Seamus Leydon 13 Christy Tyrrell 14 Seán Cleary 15 John Keenan  ?' Substitutes used: 16 Mick Reynolds  ?' for Keenan Substitutes not used: 17 Tom Sands 18 Tommy Keenan 19 B. Geraghty 20 Michael Moore	Half-time: 0–7 – 0–5 Competition: All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (Final) Date: 15.30 BST Sunday, September 26, 1965 Venue: Croke Park, Dublin Attendance: 77,735 Referee: Mick Loftus (Mayo) Match rules: 60 minutes. Replay if scores still level. Maximum of 3 substitutions.	Manager: Jim Brosnan Team: 1 Johnny Culloty (GK) 2 Donie O'Sullivan 3 Niall Sheehy 4 Mick Morris 5 Sean Murphy?/Séamus Murphy 6 Paud O'Donoghue 7 Jerdie O'Connor (c) 8 Denis O'Sullivan 9 Mick O'Connell 10 Vincent Lucey  ?' 11 Pat Griffin 12 Derry O'Shea 13 Bernie O'Callaghan 14 Mick O'Dwyer 15 J. J. Barrett  ?' Substitutes used: 21 Jimmy O'Shea?Jerome O'Shea  ?' for Barrett 18 D. Geaney  ?' for Lucey Substitutes not used: 16 M. Kelly 17 J. Lucey 19 S. Burrows 20 P. Bowler 22 J. Burke 23 T. Sheehan 24 S. Mac Gearailt