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Séamus Darby, scorer of famous Offaly goal that denied Kerry five-in-a-row

ON SEPTEMBER 16th, 1982, Offaly footballer Séamus Darby scored arguably the most famous goal in GAA history and he hasn’t heard the end of it yet.

“It’s 28 years on now and there’s not a day I don’t talk or get asked or told what someone else thinks about it,” he says. “A few people now and then wouldn’t be happy about it but they’re in the minority.”

The Rhode man, who spent 10 years in the footballing wilderness after claiming All-Ireland titles in 1971 and 1972, struck a late, late goal in the All-Ireland final to avenge Offaly’s defeat at the same stage a year earlier and deny a team of Kerry superstars a record fifth successive title.

Back then, the country was almost resigned to the fact Kerry would win, Darby recalls. The commemorative T-shirts were printed and a song had been recorded by a Kerry fan about the Kingdom claiming the elusive five-in-a-row.

National radio audiences were praying for a hero and Offaly boss Eugene Magee used the news of the impending musical release to motivate his players with talk of Kerry resembling broken records.

Darby took the bait, and when summoned from the bench with six minutes to go – with Offaly trailing by two points – he made his way to the full-forward line with one thing on his mind – scoring a goal. With two minutes to go a high ball escaped the grasp of his marker Tommy Doyle, some say after a slight push, and Darby collected it 15 yards from the Kerry goal.

He got his head up, took a step and dispatched an unstoppable shot straight under the black spot of Charlie Nelligan’s goal. What proved to be his only touch of the game claimed his county an All-Ireland football title, a feat not repeated by Offaly since, and denied that Kerry team its place in history.

Darby, who worked as a sales rep at the time, said that moment changed his life forever.

“If Tommy Doyle had caught the ball with the tips of his fingers, hounds wouldn’t drink my blood in Offaly,” he says. “It was only when we got back to Tullamore the next night that we realised the extent of what we had done. The place was going mad . . . Naturally enough we celebrated for a while, and maybe I did a bit more than I should have, but I have no regrets.”

Darby got used to the attention and late nights that came with being the man who scored that goal. He made his last appearance for Offaly in the 1984 Leinster semi-final defeat to Dublin.

A few years later he decided to move to London, where he spent the next 12 years managing a number of bars. Then, eight years ago, he returned to Ireland and set up shop in Toomevara, Co Tipperary, where he runs the Greyhound Bar.

Now a father of three and grandfather of one, Darby says he still keeps an eye on the goings-on in the GAA but is no longer involved, aside from going to the odd Offaly or Toomevara match.

With the Tipperary hurlers vying to deny Kilkenny their shot at the five-in-a-row next month some of his locals have been looking for advice. “They just need to remember it’s a two-horse race and if they believe in themselves they’re in with a chance,” he says.

“There will be a lot a pressure on Kilkenny, just like there was with Kerry back in 1982.”

Speaking of Kerry, has he dared enter the Kingdom since?

“I’m not saying I’m popular in Kerry but I’ve great friends there and people love to talk about the four-in-a-row team and my role in ending it all,” he says. “People have said to me that I should never go down there but if the truth is to be told, when I do go to Kerry now the hardest part is getting out of the place.”