2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final
 |
|||||||
| Event | 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
| Date | 21 September 2014 | ||||||
| Venue | Croke Park, Dublin | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Paul Murphy | ||||||
| Referee | Eddie Kinsella (Laois) | ||||||
| Weather | Partly cloudy 17 °C (63 °F) |
||||||
The 2014 All-Ireland Football Final, the 127th event of its kind and the culmination of the 2014 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, was played at Croke Park in Dublin on 21 September 2014. North-western side Donegal, last champions in 2012 and famed for their deployment of The System, took on south-western outfit Kerry, last champions in 2009.
Both sides defeated the previous year's finalists Dublin and Mayo in their semi-finals to set up this final match between "the two great football outposts of the west-coast extremities". This was their first encounter on All-Ireland final day, and only the second in 127 years of Championship history, Donegal having defeated Kerry in their previous encounter at the 2012 quarter-final stage. Kerry narrowly won a close game which ended with a scoreline of 2-9 to 0-12 - and the width of a post from being a draw when Michael Murphy charged straight through the middle of Kerry's blanket defence and their goalkeeper pawed Patrick McBrearty's shot into the waiting arms of Colm McFadden, who hit the rebound against the Kerry post; then a frantic goalmouth scramble ensued during which the referee sent off Johnny Buckley for a black card offence.
Donegal defeated Derry, Antrim and Monaghan to win the Ulster Senior Football Championship. They defeated Armagh in the All-Ireland quarter-final and the reigning All-Ireland Champions Dublin in the semi-final. The semi-final result was considered the greatest shock in the history of the Championship, with Dublin placed at unbackable odds by bookmakers on the morning of the game. The bookmakers took a bashing. It was Paddy Power's worst result in its history.
...
Wikipedia