The 1989 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final was a Gaelic football match played at Croke Park on 17 September 1989 to determine the winners of the 1989 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the 103rd season of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, a tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association for the champions of the four provinces of Ireland. The final was contested by Mayo of Connacht and Cork of Munster, with Cork winning by 0–17 to 1–11.

Match Summary In what is regarded as one of the best and most entertaining finals of its era, the Cork and Mayo All-Ireland decider provided "great fun at a time when football badly needed some". Cork entered the game hoping to avoid the unwanted accolade of becoming the first team in almost fifty years to lose three successive All-Ireland finals. Inspired by this they got off to a great start with three quick points before Mayo settled into the match. At half time Cork led by 0–10 to 0–8.

Mayo were rejuvenated after the interval. An Anthony Finnerty goal in the 38th minute gave Mayo a brief lead. Finnerty's goal looked as though it might swing the tide in Mayo's favour. Cork hit back to equalize through Dave Barry and a brace of scores from John Cleary handed the Rebels the initiative. Mayo's Noel Durkan set Finnerty free again minutes later, however, in a key turning point of the game, he planted his shot into the side-netting. Mayo failed to score for the last sixteen minutes as Mick McCarthy and Teddy McCarthy kicked over the final points of the game.

Cork's All-Ireland SFC victory was their first since 1973. The win gave them their fifth All-Ireland title over all and put them joint fourth on the all-time roll of honour along with Meath, Cavan and Wexford. It was the final match for captain Dinny Allen, who before the match had a reputation as one of the great "nearly men" of Gaelic games. He was dropped from the panel for the 1973 season allegedly as punishment for spending the winter playing soccer for Cork Hibs, and as a dual player his final inter-county hurling appearance came in 1975, the year before Cork won three straight All-Ireland titles.

The team Mayo selected for the 1989 All-Ireland SFC final was full of players more accustomed to the role of midfielder than anything else, e.g. T. J. Kilgallon at centre-back and Greg Maher at wing-forward.

Mayo were appearing in their first All-Ireland SFC final since they triumphed in 1951. Defeat at the hands of Cork was the first of eleven All-Ireland defeats along two draws from thirteen final appearances between 1989 and 2021.

Details

Cork 1 J. Kerins 2 N. Cahalane 3 S. O'Brien 4 J. Kerrigan 5 M. Slocum 6 C. Counihan 7 T. Davis 8 T. McCarthy 9 S. Fahy 10 D. Barry 11 L. Tompkins 12 B. Coffey 13 P. McGrath 14 D. Allen (c) 15 J. Cleary

Subs used 21 J. O'Driscoll for B. Coffey 20 M. McCarthy for S. Fahy 19 D. Culloty for J. Cleary

Subs not used 16 M. Maguire 17 T. Nation 18 D. Walsh 22 M. Burns 23 C. O'Neill 24 E. O'Mahony

Manager B. Morgan

Mayo 1 G. Irwin 2 J. Browne 3 P. Ford 4 D. Flanagan 5 M. Collins 6 T. J. Kilgallon 7 J. Finn 8 S. Maher 9 L. McHale 10 G. Maher 11 W. J. Padden 12 N. Durkin 13 M. Fitzmaurice 14 J. Burke 15 K. McStay

Subs used 18 A. Finnerty for J. Burke 20 R. Dempsey for S. Maher 22 B. Kilkelly for G. Maher

Subs not used 16 E. Lavin 17 D. Kearney 19 M. Feeney 21 M. Carney 23 P. Holmes 24 T. Grady

Manager J. O'Mahony

References