Chasing Sam Maguire

It is almost one hundred years since the Sam Maguire Cup was first awarded to the winner of the All-Ireland Football Championship, the pinnacle of sporting ambition for generations of Gaelic footballers. Here, we celebrate all the heartbreak and glory of the first fifty years of its history.

Since it was first presented in 1928, to Kildare, who beat Cavan by a single point, the Sam Maguire has become one of the most treasured pieces of silverware in Irish sport. Dermot Reilly and Colm Keys have created an absorbing record of the first fifty years of Sam. Thrilling accounts of the run-up to each final and the finals themselves are included, along with the names and home clubs for every player to have graced the field in those All-Ireland finals.

A ‘must’ for every GAA enthusiast, Chasing Sam Maguire is an enthralling account of the agony and the ecstasy of the pursuit of Ireland’s biggest sporting prize.

Table of Contents

Foreword 

All-Ireland Final results 1928-1977 

Introduction 

1928 (Final: Kildare v Cavan) 

1929 (Final: Kerry v Kildare) 

1930 (Final: Kerry v Monaghan) 

1931 (Final: Kerry v Kildare) 

1932 (Final: Kerry v Mayo) 

1933 (Final: Cavan v Galway) 

1934 (Final: Galway v Dublin) 

1935 (Final: Cavan v Kildare) 

1936 (Final: Mayo v Laois) 

1937 (Final: Kerry v Cavan) 

1938 (Final: Galway v Kerry) 

1939 (Final: Kerry v Meath) 

1940 (Final: Kerry v Galway) 

1941 (Final: Kerry v Galway) 

1942 (Final: Dublin v Galway) 

1943 (Final: Roscommon v Cavan) 

1944 (Final: Roscommon v Kerry) 

1945 (Final: Cork v Cavan) 

1946 (Final: Kerry v Roscommon) 

1947 (Final: Cavan v Kerry) 

1948 (Final: Cavan v Mayo) 

1949 (Final: Meath v Cavan) 

1950 (Final: Mayo v Louth) 

1951 (Final: Mayo v Meath) 

1952 (Final: Cavan v Meath) 

1953 (Final: Kerry v Armagh) 

1954 (Final: Meath v Kerry) 

1955 (Final: Kerry v Dublin) 

1956 (Final: Galway v Cork) 

1957 (Final: Louth v Cork) 

1958 (Final: Dublin v Derry) 

1959 (Final: Kerry v Galway) 

1960 (Final: Down v Kerry) 

1961 (Final: Down v Offaly) 

1962 (Final: Kerry v Roscommon) 

1963 (Final: Dublin v Galway) 

1964 (Final: Galway v Kerry) 

1965 (Final: Galway v Kerry) 

1966 (Final: Galway v Meath) 

1967 (Final: Meath v Cork) 

1968 (Final: Down v Kerry)

1969 (Final: Kerry v Offaly) 

1970 (Final: Kerry v Meath) 

1971 (Final: Offaly v Galway) 

1972 (Final: Offaly v Kerry) 

1973 (Final: Cork v Galway) 

1974 (Final: Dublin v Galway) 

1975 (Final: Kerry v Dublin) 

1976 (Final: Dublin v Kerry) 

1977 (Final: Dublin v Armagh) 

Conclusion 

Acknowledgements 

Index

Kildare native Dermot Reilly has had a lifelong affiliation with the GAA as a player, supporter and administrator. In a true labour of love, he has dedicated years of painstaking research to the history of the All-Ireland Football Championship since 1928, the season Dermot's beloved Kildare became the first team to win the Sam Maguire Cup.

Now retired, Dermot was formerly a Partner with PwC.

A sports journalist his entire career, Meath-born Colm Keys has accumulated a formidable knowledge of the players, personalities and politics that have shaped the modern GAA. He started at the Meath Chronicle and was the Irish Mirror’s GAA correspondent and chief sportswriter, before joining the Irish Independent where he has been the GAA correspondent since 2003.

Larry Mc Carthy took charge as Uachtarán Chumann Lúthchleas Gael in 2021. The 40th GAA President since Maurice Davin in 1884, the New York GAA representative is the first-ever overseas official elected to the high office.